Charlie and the Flagship Factory
by stylesrj
Summary: This is the story about a man named Charlie Smith who was rescued from a desolate rock by a helpful Federation crew (and a psychotic Engi Captain) tasked on a dangerous mission across several sectors. Will Charlie find action, adventure and most importantly... romance? Or will he die a few chapters in to a Rebel scout and be forgotten about? A side-story to Fight of The Osprey.
1. Sector 1 - Civillian Sector

Charlie Smith woke up suspended inside some sort of fluid-filled tank with metal walls all around him. He gave out a short groan of pain and tried to place a hand on his head as if it would dull the pounding headache. "How much did I drink?" he asked before recoiling back in shock once he realised where he was.

A grey gorilla-like Engi was staring at his naked body behind glass with an emotionless glowing green visor for eyes. "Subject. For posterity purposes, please state name, rank and ship assignment" it said in a high pitched monotone voice.

Charlie tried to remember, wondering if he had just woken up from an extended nightmare. "Ummm… Charlie Smith. Ensign Charlie Smith. Junior Engineer of the Galactic Federation Colony Ship Condor" he stated groggily "Where am I?"

The Engi said nothing, walking over to a control panel and entering in a few codes.

"I get it, I'm in a medbay and you're just programmed to operate it. Guess you don't care if I tell you about this most awful dream I had" Charlie said "I was on routine maintenance when the Mantis attacked the ship I was thrown into a shuttle and made a Mantis slave for some time. She did all sorts of horrible things to me that I didn't think the Human mind was capable of imagining."

The Engi said nothing, staring back at him emotionlessly. "Then after I had enough, I killed her. I thought the nightmare would end but it only meant a slow death by starvation" Charlie concluded "Good thing it was all a dream, right? I'm alive and not dying on some shuttle, right?"

The fluids in the tank started to drain and Charlie took in several deep breaths of fresh air and not breathing gel. "Say, I've never seen medical equipment like this before. Technology sure has changed."

"Ensign Charlie Smith, I have finished analysing your input" the Engi said calmly "Conclusion: Your revival may have caused mild memory loss."

"Wait what?" Charlie stammered "Revival? That wasn't a dream I was having, that actually happened? Am I dead?"

"Affirmative and negative. Your original body's life signs have ceased. However before they ceased, we registered you in the Clone Bay" the Engi said, pressing a big red button on the console which opened up the glass.

"Clone Bay? I'm a clone?" Charlie asked, looking at his hands "This is unreal. I'm still dreaming aren't I? I'm going to wake up and Kissikek is going to be all over me laughing?"

He glanced about the room for a weapon. "I have to get out of this metal prison!" he shouted, making a leap at the Engi. The machine quickly sidestepped away and Charlie collapsed on the floor. He leapt to his feet only to then be punched in the gut by a well-placed blow from one of the Engi's fists.

"Before isolation from Hive-Mind, this platform was given combat programming" the Engi explained, grabbing Charlie and holding him down with ease. "You will be calm or this platform will terminate you and switch your cloning tank offline."

Charlie immediately calmed down "So I'm not dreaming? I'm back with the Federation?"

"Affirmative. Distress beacon analysis indicates Condor destruction happened five standard Galactic years and three months ago" the Engi said, letting Charlie go and grabbing a grey uniform from a nearby rack.

The outfit was marked with the insignia of the Engi Brigade and looked like it could barely fit a child. Charlie knew the uniforms were highly flexible and could fit a Rockman if needed.

"Five years?" Charlie asked, as a sonic emitter cleaned him up before he put the uniform on, wondering when the Engi Brigade started having uniforms for non-Engies "You mind filling me in umm… what's your name?"

"This platform is designated as Controller Metfel. You may call me Controller, Metfel or ma'am. Which designation is more convenient for you?" the Engi said, tilting its head curiously.

_Controller. Aren't they Captains of Engi ships?_ Charlie thought to himself, unconsciously saluting the Engi.

"This platform has forgiven you for your attempted assault of a superior officer and will not reprimand you for your natural behaviour in unknown circumstances" Metfel stated.

"Sorry ma'am, I'm in shock from being revived. This Clone Bay is very interesting technology. Never seen or heard anything like it so I thought… I thought I was still dreaming" Charlie said, relaxing his stance and placing a hand on the tank he had just exited.

"Acquired cloning facilities from damaged Rebellion Rigger vessel. Reprogrammed software to suit Federation requirements" Metfel explained "No known side effects on organic lifeforms apart from disorientation and minor memory loss."

"Rebellion?" Charlie asked as he put the uniform on, _Five years and the galaxy goes to hell. At least the Federation is still around._

"Rebellion. Formerly unknown radicals of Federation suddenly declare open war on the fleets. Armed with large automated drones, cloning and hacking technology have reduced Federation assets across all sectors. Efforts are made to retaliate, but Rebellion fleets are well-armed and more numerous than Federation fleets" Metfel informed him "It's a losing battle. Your… our survival is not certain."

"Holy crap! Where did they come from?" Charlie exclaimed.

"Unknown. Speculations in Hive-Mind indicate Rebellion existed before war as subversive agents. Supplied pirates with superior weapons to undermine Federation efforts. Most likely to rally support for Rebellion liberators and to build up massive army."

"That's horrifying!" Charlie said "Yet it explains so much as to why pirates have been an increasing problem for remote colonies."

They left the Clone Bay. The corridors were grey and were filled with hexagonal shapes lining the walls like some sort of metal beehive. He thought it was an Engi cruiser of some sort he was on when he saw a series of lights running along the walls and floor guiding them throughout the ship.

Engies didn't see a need for guide lights as each platform would be programmed to understand the layout. Nor would they see a need for corridors big enough for a Rock to walk through. _Clearly this is not an Engi vessel_, Charlie thought to himself.

"Is there anything I can do to help the Federation stop these Rebels?" he asked

"You have previously indicated engineering skills. What level do you speculate?" Metfel questioned.

"I don't know. I haven't fixed or tinkered with an engine in years. But I am willing to try on this ship" Charlie said, looking around the corridor "I'm guessing by the architecture that the engines are a mixture of both Federation and Engi tech."

He sniffed the air briefly and remarked "That smells like incense. I'm guessing you've got a Zoltan monk onboard. They love putting that stuff in the life support to help them meditate."

"Most optimal analysis. This vessel needs skilled engineers familiar with both Engi Brigade and Federation technologies" Metfel said. Charlie could have sworn her visor lit up brighter.

"I've been meaning to ask ma'am but the design of the ship seems Engi, while everything is scaled towards a more mixed crew" Charlie asked.

"This experimental vessel is the result of years of combined research" Metfel said, opening a door and revealing a row of sleeping pods and recharging stations. "Constructed for the Federation by the Engies, this ship is designed to use cloaking technology and speed to get behind enemy lines."

"Cloaking? I imagine it would be hard to hide a ship in space" Charlie said skeptically.

"Phase-cloaking technology has been in widespread use across all sectors. When activated, the vessel temporarily shifts to another dimension, throwing off a ship's aim and making it invisible to most sensors" Metfel stated "This may disorient organic beings but it is highly useful and vital to our survival."

"I don't see how hiding the ship is vital to survival" Charlie mused "A good set of engines and some powerful weapons seem to be a better choice."

Metfel plugged herself into a charging station and said "Before leaving port, the shield system was not fully installed. We've only got basic deflectors."

Charlie gave out a short curse. Basic deflectors were not considered to be a shield system – they were just a small field to repel space dust and nebula gas. Even a small rock would cause problems that a single layer of shields could easily block.

A Slug slithered into the room holding a datapad "Welcome to the Nesasio, Ensign Smith. I've briefed the others about your revival and they're most pleased you're alive."

Charlie looked at the Slug curiously. He never had met one of the slimy aliens himself but his parents said they were rather dangerous, deceptive folk and shrewd negotiators. That's why the shop charged a flat rate for repairs, refuelling and inspections whenever one of their ships rolled into the colony.

He then remembered hearing one of the colonists on the Condor talking about how the Slug Trade Fleet were set to join the Federation as one of the major powers alongside the Engi Brigade and the Zoltan Resource Protection Committee. Apparently there was a lot of controversy with that decision considering the Trade Fleet's stance on slave trading.

"That's one of the reasons why the Rebellion has taken place" the Slug said to Charlie, handing him the datapad. "Read this to catch up on what's been happening, and then read the mission files. If you're interested, sign at the bottom."

Charlie then remembered that the Slugs were also telepathic. They could read a person's thoughts and use it against them. _I guess that's also why my parents never trusted them_.

"Oh and you'll find that I'm not like those in the home nebula. I have standards and discipline and great loyalty to the Galactic Federation pioneers. But still, you should at least try to conceal your thoughts. These are dangerous times after all" the Slug said cheerfully "And the other Slugs won't hesitate to tell you what's on your mind."

Looking at the datapad, Charlie immediately went to the mission files and played the audio log left there. A Federation Admiral started speaking – Charlie recognised him as Admiral Tully himself. "He spoke at my graduation. Or his pre-recorded hologram did" he informed the Slug.

"This war is going to get worse before it gets better, Captain Jensen and Controller Metfel. Botan agents have managed to acquire intel about the Rebel fleets that will prove a means to an end of this senseless conflict" Tully informed.

"Captain Jensen? He survived as well?" Charlie asked the Slug. Captain Joshua Jensen was his childhood hero. During the Mantis/Federation war, Joshua had destroyed over 30 Mantis bombers attacking his home colony in a single battle. From that day forth, the big green bugs feared hearing the name of his cruiser, the "Red-Tail." Or so what the media told him. Then once the treaty was signed and the war over, the reporters went back to the latest updates about pictures of cats.

Joshua then had retired from combat duty to serve in the civilian side of the Federation. His command of the Condor Colony Ship was said to be his last before he retired for good. _Retirony at its finest_, Charlie thought to himself.

"Captain Douglas Jensen" the Slug corrected Charlie. "The jury is still out on whether or not his father is alive. We're the first to have actually seen the Condor's wreckage ever since the Rebellion started."

Charlie continued with the audio briefing. "The intel you're is carrying is vital to the remaining Federation fleet! Do not let it fall into the hands of the Rebels who are no doubt chasing after you even as we speak" Admiral Tully explained.

"I have given you a sector map of the path of least resistance. Choose your route carefully and above all else, survive and do not get caught."

"You are authorised to take whatever means is necessary to achieve this goal. If you need to firebomb a colony or steal medical supplies, the only consequences you'll face will be on your conscience. I am entrusting you with something bigger than obeying the rules and regulations. We are all counting on at least one of you to make it back to Command with the intel."

"Good luck and Godspeed Captain Jensen and Controller Metfel. Admiral Tully out."

The hologram faded and Charlie was left with a signature pad. "So we're like an intergalactic courier service? Braving the dangers of the galaxy to get our package delivered?" he asked.

The Slug nodded "We have to keep it secret and keep it safe from all harm. We cannot let it fall back into the Rebel's hands and we cannot look inside the box in case the Rebels capture one of us and force us to talk."

"Sounds like an adventure" Charlie said, signing at the bottom of the datapad and went to hand it back to the Slug. "Keep it. By signing it, the pad has now been assigned to you. You are now registered as part of the Nesasio's crew" he replied before gesturing for Charlie to follow him to the engine room.

"By the way, the name's Lieutenant Slocknaw. Not to be confused with my "heroic" brother Slocknog" the Slug introduced himself "I hope that the slimy bastard is rotting on some moon!"

The engine room was rather utilitarian in design with easily-accessible vents and modular parts. He mused how close it was to the reactor core and wondered if that was a good idea if power needed to be quickly diverted to the engines, or a bad idea since all it would take is a stray shot to the engine room to damage the core.

"It's rather quiet – if this was built for Humans in mind, how can one tell the engine is working without checking the console?" Charlie asked Slocknaw only to find the Slug had vanished, leaving an echoing chuckle.

Charlie walked over to the main console and looked at the engine's status. _Maybe it makes a sound when something goes wrong_, he thought to himself.

The ship's reactor was not powering the engines – two yellow bars on the console indicated an external power source. "Zoltans" he remarked before looking to the engine, wondering where the green energy beings were.

A burst of lime green energy coalesced opposite the console and formed into the shape of a long-haired woman in some sort of lime green military uniform with an emblem labelled ZRPC. She was a Zoltan soldier of some sort.

Charlie remembered his brother Robert telling him about a Zoltan cruiser he once patched up and the Zoltans themselves. "They've got all these strange beliefs about eyes and stuff and plenty of rules, but by the gods have you seen their women? No wonder Captain Awesome couldn't refuse to rescue Zoltan princesses every Saturday morning!"

"Very astute Ensign Smith" the Zoltan said, her voice having an otherworldly echo to it "Bond Sister Elizabeth-Trikko, Order Of The Great Eye."

Charlie did not know what that meant as a rank or if it meant she was a civilian. But he was feeling like he should do some fraternisation in the ranks regardless. "We've been waiting for someone to be sent down here to maintain the engines" Elizabeth said with a tired yawn "Keeping them powered can be quite exhausting, but such hardships are needed on the path to becoming an Envoy."

The Zoltans were made up mostly of some sort of bioorganic energy could be used to power systems, but they always maintained a physical form when doing so. Elizabeth seemed fond of throwing her whole self into the engines, providing extra energy but most likely risking some sort of catastrophic harm.

"An Envoy?" Charlie asked, then regretting asking that question. "What do they do?"

"What the Great Eye tells them to do" Elizabeth said "Rather than being told by an Envoy what the Great Eye told them."

"So it's like going further up the chain of command?" Charlie asked.

"Something like that. However your path and our paths work differently." Elizabeth said calmly "By the time we've achieved our status as an Envoy we will be different people entirely. The whole is worth more than the sum of its parts and great sacrifices are needed to attain this."

Charlie wondered if the Zoltan or if the entire species were just crazy. Elizabeth then handed him a multi-tool "You'll need one of these when trouble comes along. Not that you'll need it considering that our goal is to avoid being hit."

"You're not going to help me get acquainted a little better?" Charlie asked with a smile. Elizabeth shook her head and turned around towards the engines. "Sometimes one chooses their own path without the guidance of others."

"I've been stranded on a desolate moon for five years without having any opportunity to work on anything involving a spaceship" Charlie complained "I think I need a little more than some philosophical words."

Elizabeth sighed and informed him "We're saying the system is simple enough that even a Mantis could do it. You're not a Mantis are you?"

Charlie shook his head. "I don't think anyone in the family are Mantises."

"Good. Keep the engines in working order and we will be in working order, for the engines and us are one" Elizabeth said, giving him a wink. Her body began to break apart into a cloud of energy. Before she faded away however, she quickly added "At least until our Captain installs some better shields."

She then flowed into the engines while Charlie scratched his head and wondered just how strange this ship could get. _Yet at the same time this is more what I signed up for rather than what I did on that colony ship_.

Slocknaw returned, still chuckling to himself. "I see you've quickly taken a liking to our Zoltan friends" he remarked.

"Friends?" Charlie asked "I only saw one Zoltan."

"Elizabeth-Trikko is a Bond Sister" Slocknaw said "It's a rather complicated affair and involves a lot of sacrifice."

"And the ability to write bad poetry?" Charlie asked.

"More like the ability to write bad poetry well" Slocknaw laughed "Now get familiarised with the controls. Controller says we're jumping out of this system in an hour. You'll be glad to know that the rock we found you on will be far far away."


	2. Sector 2 - Rock Controlled Sector (Numa)

If there was something that could be said about the Rocks was that they were a patient species, preferring to wait before acting, even when under heavy fire. At the entrance beacon to the sector, several sandstone-brown ships were waiting for them, demanding a small toll for entering Rock territory.

"All proceeds go to funding the royal wedding" the Flight Leader explained to Controller Metfel.

"Royal wedding?" Metfel asked.

"You machines wouldn't understand. The beautiful Princess Ariadne of Vrachos IV is going to marry our courageous and strong leader, Grand Basilisk Sandry of Numa V" the Rock said "It will be a truly spectacular ceremony that'll seal the alliance between the two tribes and show those damned granite-brains where the real power lies!"

"Understood. Union special event for organics. Toll price?" Metfel asked.

"A few choice pieces of salvage that equal roughly twenty Scrap and then you can do whatever business you repugnant beings do."

Salvage was the currency out in the remote sectors of the galaxy, not Credits. There was a complicated market judging the value of materials and some pieces were worth more than others. It was simplified into a unit called "Scrap."

The Engi briefly contemplated the pros and cons of accepting the toll before she then charged up the Dual Lasers, the Hull Smasher Laser and the Bayonetta Beam. "Toll unacceptable. Will lead to further tolls. Need materials for ship optimisation and repairs. Only option available: Show of strength. Purge!"

"Holy crap, she's doing it again!" Charlie exclaimed in shock at yet another one of his Controller's "brilliant strategies." The Nesasio was barely holding together without proper shields and the Engi wanted to get into more and more combat, always claiming it'd be useful for salvage.

She got what she wanted but most of the salvage was spent on ship repairs – every shot damaged the ship. Even a single layer of shielding could reduce the damage significantly.

The Rock ships began charging their own weapons "Alright, you asked for it! Stupid machine!" the Flight Leader declared, syncing his guns with the others for one big blast of overkill on the "upstart" ship. The Nesasio let off several shots before the fighters were able to launch their barrage.

Metfel's console was lit up with incoming contacts as bombs and missiles started heading towards the cruiser. A scant nanosecond later once everything had been confirmed as launched, Metfel activated the phase-cloak and moved the ship away.

A single area of space became a field of massive explosions as everything crashed into and around it. The Flight Leader assumed the Engi ship had been disintegrated since it was no longer on the sensors. "Good riddance. Always hated those Engies."

The Nesasio then phased back into the current dimension right behind the Flight Leader and opened fire with deadly precision – the dual laser taking out the single layer of shield and its control station, followed by the Bayonetta Beam sweeping through several rooms, with the hull smasher coming in last, breaching and buckling the hull. Several Rock bodies were ejected and Slocknaw picked up no more signs of life onboard.

Metfel hailed the other fighters with a monotone but very boastful "Do the low brain matter geological xenoforms wish to indulge their senses in this vessel's firepower? Or will you children of parents who have formed you outside of a formalised union make a hasty retreat typical to juvenile females of your species?"

"Did the Engi say what I thought she just said?" Charlie asked Slocknaw.

The other two Rock fighters immediately began charging their drives to get away from the bloodthirsty Engi, probably shocked at how efficiently their leader's ship was destroyed and the fact that an Engi of all people had beaten him silly.

There was plenty of salvage for the crew of the Nesasio to recover and haul into the cargo hold. "There's something wrong with that Engi" Charlie remarked to Slocknaw as they loaded several loose military-grade explosives into a crate.

"The Engies rarely ever isolate themselves from the Hive-Mind. Their physical platforms always share data back and forth so they never feel alone" the Slug informed him "Metfel's connection was severed rather suddenly, so programming quirks are to be expected from her isolation, especially if it's their first time."

"We have something similar with our telepathic powers, except we're more used to isolation from each other" He looked over at Elizabeth-Trikko who was grabbing parts from the fighter's shield system. "The Bond Sister gets the best deal though. She can never be truly alone. For better or worse" he said "She's well-connected with herself."

Before Charlie could ask why, Metfel started shouting on all frequencies about "being a divine entity of combat" before bringing up the sector map for a new destination to sate her newfound bloodlust.

The Nesasio's Long Range Scanners were picking up several different hazards ahead of them, including a distress signal coming from an asteroid field. "Assistance will arrive shortly" she said into the map.

Without consulting the crew about how much of a stupid idea it would be to jump into an asteroid field without shields to answer the distress beacon, the ship had jumped into an asteroid field without shields to answer the distress beacon.

Immediately upon arriving, the Nesasio was shaken up by an asteroid impact into the Security Room, setting it on fire. Metfel shut down life support in order to quell the flames due to the door controls not responding.

The crew rushed for their stations, assuming they were under attack. "Tactical miscalculation. Asteroid field denser than speculations indicated" Metfel informed them.

"Asteroid field? Why did we jump into an asteroid field!?" Charlie asked "It's a stupid idea!"

"Distress beacon detected. Must provide assistance as per Federation protocols" Metfel said "Engaging phase-cloak"

"Yeah now you answer a distress beacon…" Charlie grumbled, arriving at his station and adjusting the output settings of the engines. Several large asteroids swooped past the Nesasio (and through it) as it darted between the dense clusters. Asteroid fields by themselves were hardly ever dangerous – they normally consisted of scattered rocks hundreds of thousands of kilometres away from each other.

They only became dangerous when a Jump Beacon node was placed in the area. The gravity field it generated caused asteroids to form a tighter belt until it turned into a navigational hazard. Basic deflectors couldn't stop the larger rocks from impacting with the vessel and the magnetic plating and artificial gravity systems also did not help.

"The machine really wants us dead. First the reckless combat, now asteroid fields!" Charlie grumbled "Chances are that distress beacon was set up to lure idiots like us to our deaths!"

The impacts to the ship started to lessen until they stopped entirely and Metfel reported in her monotone that they had landed on one of the larger asteroids. Then she pointed out that several of the rooms were on fire and needed everyone to go deal with it.

"Can't we just vent out the affected rooms?" Charlie asked.

"Negative. Security room is damaged. Basic door functionality only possible. Additionally – life support is offline to deprive fires of air. Haste is vital" Metfel informed him. "On lighter note, this platform has located source of distress signal. Will investigate and return shortly."

With that, Controller Metfel left her station to get outside the Nesasio, switching her magnetic feet on and walking across the surface of the asteroid towards the distress signal. She expected her crew to have extinguished the fires and make necessary repairs before her return.

After some time walking, the ground stopped being magnetic as she began stepping on a layer of ice crystals. Ahead of her was a decaying ship embedded into the rock, also coated in the crystals.

"Analysing" she logged, scanning the wreck with her visor. "No match found. Accessing databanks. No data found. Requesting system update. Carrier link severed. Return to localhost." She turned around and headed back to the Nesasio.

Meanwhile, the crew had just finished extinguishing the last of the blazes and brought the life support system back online just as the air was running towards critical levels. Elizabeth slumped against a wall just outside of the Clone Bay, feeling faint. Charlie crouched down next to her and asked "Are you alright?"

"No we're not" Elizabeth said taking a deep pained breath and looking at her hands. "Firefighting is not our strong suit. I think we're dying."

"Dying?" Charlie asked, grabbing one of her hands and then looked up at the Clone Bay door. "Can't we just…"

Elizabeth unholstered her firearm and pointed it at her own head. Before Charlie could finish his sentence, the Zoltan had shot herself, her body slumping lifelessly to the floor. Then it disappeared into a flash of energy.

"Holy crap!" Charlie shouted in shock "That Zoltan is crazy! We could have patched her up instead of cloning a new body!"

Slocknaw put a reassuring hand on his shoulder and lead him into the Clone Bay where a blob of energy formed inside one of the tanks. "Not crazy. For some reason, Metfel decided to strip out the medical facilities for the cloning tanks" the Slug said.

"Seriously?" Charlie exclaimed. He was lucky to have avoided serious injury so far, so this was news to him "You mean that if we break a leg or injure ourselves in any way, it's easier to just kill ourselves than I don't know… first aid? Surgery?"

"Oh well we can do microcloning to replace damaged body parts by teleporting out the old ones and replacing them with new ones" Slocknaw said "But due to a software bug it does this only between jumps. So until then, killing yourself is the best way to heal all injuries. We'll get a programmer to take a look at the teleporters and fix it up."

"Aren't Engies programmers by design?" Charlie asked.

"I mean a good programmer" Slocknaw laughed as the lights in the room briefly flickered. Charlie saw a featureless lime-green humanoid suspended inside the fluid tank. "Is that her?" he asked Slocknaw "Why does she look… smoother?"

"You mean why doesn't she look like an attractive, green-skinned Human being straight out of a television show you watch? The true form of a Zoltan is quite unappealing to non-Zoltans" the Slug replied "It's only when in contact with other sapient species they adopt a form that species is most comfortable with… within limits. You wouldn't find them in the shape of Rocks or Slugs."

Elizabeth took in several deep breaths as the tank drained out and she was breathing air again. Her body shifted into what Charlie previously saw her as before, even down to the uniform. "Now we're in perfect health" she said to him cheerfully as the tank opened and the Zoltan sauntered out towards the doors "We need to get the security room fixed up if we're to have proper door controls and…"

Controller Metfel barrelled into the Clone Bay, knocking over Elizabeth in her march. "Distress signal source located. Derelict ship. Error. Need team for salvage operation."

She looked at Charlie and said "Suits required for extravehicular activity. Imminent system-" before she collapsed into a pile of nanomachines, metal and flickering lights. Charlie barely had time to express his surprise yet again before the Clone Bay started dutifully rebuilding the Engi.

"There has to be a better way than using suicide to solve our health problems" Charlie muttered as Slocknaw and Elizabeth showed him to where he could acquire a spacesuit.

"The Clone Bay does disrupt the sanctity of life and should never have been allowed to be used by anyone" Elizabeth remarked "However at the same time we do not wish to become one with the Great Eye early. The Clone Bay allows our energy field to be maintained upon destabilisation. No loss of self and no loss of life for the Zoltan form."

"You're really into that cultist stuff aren't you?" Charlie asked "They've even got you believing in magic and space gods."

"The Order is a religion, not a cult" Elizabeth said "And the Great Eye is more real than your planet's ancient superstitions. If we survive our journey, we might take you to it so you too can gaze upon its power."

"Ah so now you want to go on a date with me?" Charlie asked "Because if I knew that, I would have insulted your religion back when we first met."

Elizabeth frowned "Don't push your luck Human. We only like you a little."

An hour later, the Nesasio's crew made the journey to the derelict ship, all of them in spacesuits. No one recognised the class of ship used or the technology behind it so everything onboard was considered to be valuable. "Cursory analysis indicates enigma" Metfel said "Too many decks to cover as group. Crew, separate and search for evidence."

Slocknaw said in a wheezy voice "Sure thring bross" and gave her a cheeky snicker. Charlie and Elizabeth looked at him strangely. The Slug shrugged "It's an old reference about a gang of teenagers who solve mysteries in haunted places and… you know what? Never mind, bad joke. Why am I the only one here who understands Human culture?"

The crew split up and took different parts of the derelict vessel to explore. Loose pieces of odd technology were scattered throughout the halls to which the crew collected and stored in their backpacks, belts and pockets.

Elizabeth found several pieces of shield tech before discovering the ship's flight computer. She scanned the controls with her multitool while speaking into a recording device. "Its simple design indicates it has similarities to a Rock vessel but it predates them considering all the crystals around it" Elizabeth remarked "We are not certain what era it is from but we can speculate that perhaps future Rock vessels were based off this design. The crystals add another layer of curiosity though. We need an expert historian on the Rocks."

She made a few more notes before moving on to another part of the ship.

Charlie meanwhile was on a deck with a lot of sealed doors, most of them scratched with clawmarks or coated in crystal fragments. "Do you think the crew was attacked by giant spiders?" he asked with a laugh "Maybe we found their nest?"

"Hey, those giant alien spiders were no joke!" Slocknaw retorted deadpan before he pried open a crystal-coated door in his area of the ship and found a storage room with an unknown weapon in the middle. "Think we can install it on the Nesasio?" he asked Metfel.

The Engi ran a scan over the device and nodded "With modifications. Find acceptable. Will need others to haul."

Before the Slug could start clearing away the crystals though, Charlie interrupted them on the comms. "There's this weird stasis pod that's caught my eye. Think we can haul it?"

Metfel paused and did a quick analysis before heading over to Charlie's position on the other side of the ship. Many of the derelict's equipment were beyond use but she grabbed a few choice pieces of loose tech along the way. She then entered the room to find Charlie and Elizabeth examining a large crystal-coated pod sitting next to four other pods. The pod looked too heavy for one person to carry.

"This appears to be some sort of stasis chamber. Maybe for long voyages before FTL travel" Charlie commented "The ship is too small to be a colony vessel after all."

Elizabeth put a hand to her head and gasped. "We have sensed a significant change in gravity. There's another asteroid on a collision course with us" she said.

Metfel's visor glowed brighter "Secure pod, return to ship immediately!" she declared, helping the others take the pod off its mounting and hauling it back to the Nesasio. Slocknaw expressed his disappointment at not being able to use the new gun but there was just no time.

The cruiser detached from the asteroid and flew away as quickly as the engines could take it. A large asteroid smashed straight into the other, destroying both rocks and the derelict ship. "That was close" Charlie remarked, several chunks flying past the Nesasio. He then examined the stasis pod in the cargo hold. "It looks damaged. Know anyone who can open it?"

"We know a guy" Elizabeth said "He's a Zoltan scientist who used to do work for the ZRPC before he became an independent scientist. He goes by the name of Duncan."

"Great, do you know which protectorate he's in?" Charlie asked.

"Not exactly but we will let you know when we get closer. For now, we recommend you get some rest" Elizabeth said, heading back into the Nesasio's engines. The cruiser was now clear of the asteroid field with only moderate damage to the hull.

Charlie scratched his head and muttered "That Zoltan really is strange. But I think I can work with that."


	3. Sector 3 - Engi Controlled Sector

The Nesasio arrived in an Engi-controlled sector and docked at the border station while the crew stepped out and relaxed "stretching their legs." Charlie Smith found a tavern which had been set up to cater for organic beings. The bartender was a friendly-looking Engi with bottle-openers on his hands while several barmaids wandered around with very distinctive body structures that tried a bit too hard to look desirable for Humans.

Charlie reflected on what had happened before they arrived. The Numa Tribe was not very hospitable towards the psychotic Engi, Controller Metfel and her ship, with many freighters and trading posts refusing to serve the Nesasio because of her reckless behaviour at the border. Some even outright attacked and caused serious damage to the hull.

The Nesasio was essentially flying on patchwork plating and Elizabeth's prayers to the Great Eye when it arrived in the sector. Metfel insisted on pushing forward since they were in "mostly friendly territory" but Slocknaw insisted greatly that they get some repairs done in case of Mantis raiders.

He even brought up a copy of the sector map and showed how many Mantis-controlled systems shared an Exit beacon with the Engies.

Despite the viable shield tech that had been looted, a proper system had not been set up much to everyone's annoyance. "Software drivers missing. Need to acquire at trading post. Will be expensive" Metfel informed the crew when asked why.

"One of these days, I think I'm going to mutiny" Charlie Smith complained to the bartender. He was two bottles into his alcohol and halfway through the third.

"Mutiny. Unacceptable behaviour for loyalist Federation member. Recommendation: Talk to Controller. Request compromise" the bartender replied, his voice monotone like the rest of the Engies but Charlie could tell he was not interested in his drunken ramblings.

Charlie sighed and requested another bottle. The bartender scanned him and said "Intoxication: Moderate. Acquiring new bottle." He ducked under the counter and grabbed a new bottle for him, popping the lid off with one of his hands. "Third Reminder: If intoxication reaches Critical Status, this platform will be forced to run detoxification on Human until intoxication levels are at Zero. Will cause intense pain in 99% of all organics."

"Yeah, this isn't my first time. Now can I drink my damned beer?" Charlie grunted. Before he could grab his drink, another Engi took it off him. "Thanks Human" the Engi said "I've always wondered why your species like drinking this poison so much."

"Hey you stupid toaster! That's my drink" Charlie slurred, curling his hands into fists. "You stupid machines have no mouths!"

The Engi placed the bottle underneath its head and leaned back, draining its contents. "That's true, but this "stupid machine's" body was designed as a "special" model for Humans" it remarked, miming the air quotes. Charlie saw that the platform appeared to be one of the barmaids, except it had a purple visor rather than green.

The Engi processed it for a few seconds before suddenly making the sounds of coughing and handing the empty bottle back to the stunned Charlie. It then said "Thanks, that stuff is just nasty. You humans certainly enjoy killing yourselves as much as each other."

The Engi walked away before Charlie could say anything else. He looked at the empty bottle to find a small data disk had been dropped inside. He suddenly found himself much more sober despite the bartender insisting he was still intoxicated.

He carefully removed the disk and placed the empty bottle into a trash receptacle on the counter. "What just happened?" Charlie asked the bartender

The bartender replied "Apologies. Replacement underway."

"No more for me thanks… I think I'll go back to the ship and work out the debt" Charlie said, getting up to leave the tavern. The bartender nodded and said "Logging you out. Current debt is… ERROR: VALUE NOT FOUND."

Charlie found an empty corridor and took out his datapad. After making sure it wasn't connected to any local network he placed the disk in to see why the odd Engi gave him it. If it was hostile software, the datapad could be wiped.

The only thing on the disk was an audio log. He switched on his communicator and played it so only he could hear. "Hello Human. You look to be the sort of person who has a ship and the freedom to travel without restriction. I would like to request to join your crew and explore the galaxy."

"I apologise for my earlier actions, but the Engi Hive-Mind does not take kindly to Engies like myself and have eyes and ears everywhere. Even stealing your beer to give you this data was risky, but I found it was a good way to get your attention. I promise to be a productive and efficient member of your crew and obey all instructions without question."

"If you want me to fix a hull breach without a suit, I will do so. Fire in life support? Hand me the extinguisher. Mantises swarming all over the ship and you can't space them? I'll try my best to fight them off."

"I won't tell you where you can find me but we will meet again before too long and I will tell you my story."

The audio log was left unsigned. Charlie didn't quite know what to make of it though.

_An Engi who speaks like a person? Well that's a change of pace,_ He thought to himself before heading back to the Nesasio, _Why do I get the feeling that the crazy guy on the Condor was right and there is a conspiracy going on with those machines?_

When Charlie got to the Nesasio, he found Slocknaw in the middle of a negotiation with a pair of Slug traders. Like all talks between Slugs, it was done in the mind.

Seeing as how he couldn't follow the conversation, he went to talk to Elizabeth-Trikko who was nearby and chanting some sort of prayer to herself. He only was able to pick up a few words such as "Great Eye" and "Envoy" but everything else was untranslated.

"You following this at all Elizabeth?" Charlie asked the Zoltan, interrupting her prayers. She looked at him and shrugged "One of the great mysteries of life is psychic powers. The Great Eye is closed to such means."

"You're not mad I interrupted your prayer to the big eye?" Charlie remarked.

"Great Eye and no. We were just meditating until Slocknaw's negotiations finished, so we can get a teleporter" Elizabeth said "To attain enlightenment we must hone our combat skills."

Charlie looked the Zoltan up and down "I didn't think you cultist monks were fighters. All you've ever done is meditate and talk about being one with the engine room. You know that if it wasn't for the Clone Bay, you'd be at great risk of being killed by a stray shot to the engines."

"As I've said before, the Order of the Great Eye is not a cult! It's a religion!" Elizabeth protested.

"A religion is just a cult that's more successful" Charlie said "You really don't believe in all that space magic nonsense do you?"

Elizabeth frowned "It's not nonsense. You've seen us manipulate our energy field as a weapon. It cannot be so ludicrous that we can achieve much more."

"I can understand your power over energy but what I don't believe is that you can do things like turn water into starship fuel or cure diseases with the power of spiritual healing" Charlie remarked sceptically "Unless you're powering machines that do it for you."

"Of course you do not believe us, because times have changed and space magic is no longer vital for starship travel" Elizabeth said. Her energy field crackled and sparked in front of him. "The Engies gave the Empire machines that did the roles of hundreds of monks for a lot less. No longer is the Order the greatest organisation in the Empire but the Zoltan Resource Protection Committee. The protectorates are defended by highly-trained security guards."

Charlie muttered a comment about how crazy the Zoltan were. "Wait, if you're a monk of your cult though… why are you in a ZRPC uniform?" he then asked.

Elizabeth sighed "We must not forget our former selves. One of us was part of the Committee before we Archonised."

"Archo-what?" Charlie asked. "Is that some sort of kooky spiritual thing that only a Zoltan believer would know?"

She tapped her forehead and said "Archonisation is not a trade secret. It's the merger of two energy fields into one in a ritual of love and bonding. Such a ritual requires immense devotion towards…"

"I'm not a twelve year old Elizabeth, I don't need euphemisms for what I think you're trying to tell me" Charlie commented, before raising his eyebrows "Did you take pictures at least…" he then remembered what she looked like in the Clone Bay and added "No wait I don't think I want to see them."

Elizabeth laughed "It's not what you think it is. It's a literal merger of energy fields – like when two Engi ships come together to form a bigger ship."

Charlie shook his head, not knowing exactly what two Engies did when they liked each other very much. Elizabeth sighed and said "You will understand when you see it. It's sort of like that except in our case we just grow more powerful."

Suddenly one of the Slug traders collapsed. Slocknaw shook his head, making "tsk tsk" noises. "Good news everyone. We're getting a teleporter installed for only sixty Scrap!"

"Excellent. Who will be our boarding partner" Elizabeth asked, leaning on her hips "Regulations state that boarding parties should have at least two physical bodies in the event that one is incapacitated."

Slocknaw patted his laser pistol. "I'll do it until we can get a merc or something. Do you think we can make the Federation uniforms in red?"

"Why, to hide the blood?" Charlie asked "Because we should also get some brown pants as well if the odds are against us."

"It's… never mind" Slocknaw grumbled, muttering something about an old Earth television program.

Controller Metfel then arrived with a few Repair Drones in tow and another Engi platform who was carrying a remote control. "This platform has negotiated installation of shield system software drivers and hardware" she explained before pointing to the drones. "These drones will install required equipment and this merchant will organise payment."

The mono-wheeled drones immediately got to work, buzzing and humming into action, welding conduits and control panels together with great precision with their tool arms.

An hour later, the shield system and the teleporter were installed and linked up to the reactor core. Metfel went to examine the hardware herself, before she remarked that she should be on all boarding expeditions because of her status as a combat platform.

Slocknaw sighed and went to check on Charlie. The Human was waiting by the airlock until the Nesasio parted from the station. "You seem troubled my friend" Slocknaw said to him "You were expecting someone?"

"Yeah I was. A strange Engi wanted to join the crew but they never turned up" Charlie said, handing Slocknaw the data disk.

The Slug played the footage and nodded "Maybe she found another ship or the Hive-Mind got her and reprogrammed her" Slocknaw said "Come on, we're jumping soon. Our mission is to get the intel to Federation Command. It's not our place to discuss Engi morality – otherwise we wouldn't have submitted to being commanded by Metfel"

Charlie sighed and walked away from the airlock, idly brushing past a repair drone that probably did not get off in time before Metfel hastily departed. The drone briefly glowed purple before collapsing to the ground, scattering parts everywhere.

"I sincerely hope she improves though. I don't know how much more of this I can take before I mutiny."

The Nesasio jumped to the next beacon, arriving in orbit of a large garden planet. It would have held no interest to the Engies so Metfel immediately deduced the system was clear before spinning up the FTL drive and then running a system scan.

Just as the drive was nearly fully charged, a distress signal started broadcasting from an Engi space station in orbit of the planet. "Assistance requested. Danger present. Imminent destruction" their Controller said in the usual Engi monotone.

Metfel lit up brightly and responded "This is the Nesasio. We are moving to assist." She fired up the impulse drives and moved towards the station at top speed to answer the call. A Mantis Fighter was darting around the structure and taking potshots at it with a flak cannon. Whether it was for fun or for profit, it did not matter.

Upon detecting another target heading towards the station, the red-painted Mantis ship moved towards them, their leader shouting "Foolish meatsacks!" and teleporting two of his most powerful warriors onboard. He didn't care where they teleported as long as it was on the meatsack vessel.

Intruder alarms were set off as the Mantis warriors scrambled for the nearest blast doors, which just happened to be leading to the Engine Room. Charlie could hear their claws and energy blades tearing at the metal, trying to pry the doors open. He nervously drew his pistol and took cover behind a pylon near the door

"This brings back memories" he said nervously. "Trapped in a room with Mantis swarms bearing down on me…"

Elizabeth appeared next to him, hands crackling with energy "And then what happened?" she asked "Did the Marines arrive just in the nick of time? You made a last stand?"

"No… we were only armed with tools and were slaughtered like rats. The Legendary Mantis Thief Kakasomething spared my life though."

"KazaaakplethKilik himself spared you?" Elizabeth asked, reciting the name with ease "That cannot be a coincidence."

"He spared me because one of his daughter's took a fancy to me… said I was to be her nest slave" Charlie whimpered.

Elizabeth briefly contemplated what that might have entailed. Mantises preferred live prey for laying their larvae in as it promised them a fresh food source and gave them a taste for blood. The victim was left alive until the very end.

The Zoltan barked "Suppress those memories soldier. You're shaking like a leaf in a breeze and we can't have you falter."

"Well I'm glad you're here but I thought you moved to the shield room Elizabeth" Charlie said.

"We will once we're ready. But now, prepare yourself!" she said as the doors slid open, sparking on their rails. She assailed the Mantis warriors with a shower of lightning, searing their chitinous hides and stunning one of them.

The other warrior hissed and charged for the Zoltan. "Green gasbag! Easy prey for my claws!"

Elizabeth grabbed a large solid pipe and channelled her energy through it. The pipe crackled with lightning as she wielded it like a quarterstaff. The Mantis leapt straight at her with claws reinforced by energy blades.

She gracefully moved out of the way and smacked the insect in its side, knocking it over. The warrior recovered quickly and raised its claws again, being a bit more cautious and annoyed at how difficult the Zoltan was being. "Foolish prey! I send you to your pathetic eye god!"

Elizabeth swung the pipe at the insect like it was a hammer at the same time as the Mantis' energy blades clashed. Somehow, the pipe was not cut into pieces and instead knocked the claws aside with the sheer force behind a solid object. "Then you better take out the Clone Bay or we'll keep coming back!" Elizabeth taunted back, sending another bolt of lightning at the Mantis before finishing him off with another strike.

She went to attack the other intruder only to hear several shots from a laser pistol next to her. The other Mantis gave out a screech as it died while Charlie stood there, gun in hand. His hands were shaking nervously despite his stern expression. "They think they're so tough but they die all the same!"

Elizabeth said "We believe that was all of them" and placed the pipe against a nearby pylon. The object was still sparking with energy even though she wasn't touching it.

"I feel much better now" Charlie said, kicking the corpse. He looked to the Zoltan "That was some impressive fighting Elizabeth! That bug didn't even touch you!"

Elizabeth said "These Mantises don't know much about the Order and especially nothing about us. We know how they fight and have reflexes that can match them blow for blow."

She picked up the pipe and examined it. "Although we've never had this happen before."

"What, now you're going to tell me that piece of pipe is bloody magical?" Charlie complained.

"Yes" Elizabeth said "We have enchanted weapons before, but once they're out of our grasp, they return to what they were before. We once had to fight off pirates with only a loaf of bread for a weapon."

"You're just making this religious crap up as you go along aren't you?" Charlie remarked.

"Those pirates thought so too. They didn't think a loaf of bread could be dangerous" Elizabeth said "But during our distraction, we had stolen one of their guns and shot our way back to the shuttle."

"If this one retains the enchantment then the Great Eye has gifted us with our primary weapon for the path ahead" she continued.

"A piece of pipe you picked off the ground?" Charlie asked "Your Great Eye wants you to wield a pipe into battle and not say give you a sword? Or a gun?"

"When we become an Envoy, the Great Eye will bestow upon us the Key and the Pointer" Elizabeth said "But by then we will be skilled enough to not require them."

The ship then shook violently. "Tactical miscalculation! Ramming suboptimal option!" Metfel announced.

Slocknaw then added "But at least we've destroyed the hostile vessel."

The Nesasio had the front of the Mantis fighter forcibly attached to the bow giving it a rather comical appearance. Charlie did not know what possessed Metfel to do such a thing as ram another vessel instead of just shooting it but it worked and allowed for easier salvage.

Metfel had to be talked down from leaving it attached to the nose as a symbol of conquest. "No pirate is going to care that we killed a Mantis ship and stuck it to our nose" Slocknaw said "The pieces are better used for salvage."

Metfel contacted the station to see what they had to say about the situation. "Gratitude. Expected probability of defeat without assistance... 86.2 percent. Request suitable reward" the Engi station hailed back. "State 1 for fuel. State 2 for weapon. State 3 for drone schematic."

Metfel's visor glowed brighter with anger as she said "Dislike automated answering service. Threat unresolved. Current mission imperative: Protocol 52.34."

"Understood. Re-establishment of Federation highest import. Transmitting hidden base coordinates. Repairing hull and attaching ship to ship ordnance" the station replied before dispatching several automated repair drones and a cargo hauler shuttle. Slung underneath the hauler was a massive gun of sorts with two stabilising rails leading to a circular focusing structure at the top.

Metfel gave out a series of chirps and whistles. "Glaive Beam. Deadly firepower. Must test capabilities! Need target!"

The cargo hauler suddenly went haywire, spinning around rapidly as its computers were scrambled. The lights on the sides changed from yellow to purple. "Station control, cargo hauler drone malfunctioning" Metfel informed them before powering up the weapons "Destroy?"

"Denied. Will check for…" the station started before a disembodied monotone voice shouted "Help me! They're coming to kill me and you!" over a layer of static.

Then the station Engi continued as if nothing had happened. "…errors in drone computers. Then if required, destruction permitted."

"Acknowledged" Metfel replied, somewhat disappointed "Note: Communication errors. Overlapping with distress beacon messages."

Just as sudden as it went haywire, the hauler began resuming its course, lights flashing back to normal. It docked with the Nesasio and unloaded the Glaive Beam into the cargo hold. An Engi Bomber jumped into the system while Metfel went to examine the cargo.

A minute later, the space station self-destructed, sending debris flying everywhere. Metfel ran back for the helm and opened communications, wondering what the ship just did.

"Station reported viral software entering databanks from unknown source. Self-destructed to prevent spread" The Bomber's Controller responded. Suddenly his visor glowed brighter. "Error. Unknown source now known. Sending automated message."

"Subject: Federation/Brigade Cruiser Nesasio. Viral software #247-12 detected in databanks. Harbouring fugitive considered crime. Self-destruction is mandatory" the Bomber's Controller recited. "You have fifteen seconds to comply."

"Viral software?" Metfel asked, angry at being accused of harbouring a fugitive. As far as she knew, asking for the self-destruction of her own ship was quite rude. "Inconceivable! Performed scans on computers before departing! Query: Crimes?"

"Virus #247-12 Crimes: Binary scrambling x5, nano-dissolution x2, and variable interference x10" the Engi replied, tapping its arms impatiently "Punishment: Destruction of hardware and software through extreme temperatures. Prevent software spread. Five seconds, four… three…"

Metfel said "Inconceivable! Will immediately purge system code!"

"Acceptable response. Countdown extended. Sixty seconds" the Engi stated "Will open fire if virus not purged or ship is not self-destructed. Apologies. Only option to be certain."

Metfel nodded and began rapidly tapping at the console on the helm. "What's going on? Why is there an Engi vessel planning on attacking us?" Slocknaw asked, sliding into the room "I didn't think it was possible for you to anger the Engies."

"Viral software infiltrated onboard from last destination. Must locate source and purge…" Metfel started before her visor started glowing purple. "Don't believe what they're saying! Those brutes will only accept your destruction even if I am purged. You have to fight!"

"What the…?" Slocknaw stammered.

"Slocknaw, let me live. I can help you! Just give me a chance to explain myself!" the Virus continued.

"How do you… get out of Metfel's processors!" the Slug shouted.

Metfel put both hands to her forehead as her visor constantly shifted between colours. "System error! Error! Unable to transmit data. Requesting backup. Carrier not found! Blue skies! Noooo…"

The Engi's body dissolved into nanites and other materials. "Metfel!" Slocknaw shouted, rushing to the pile as if he could give some sort of first aid for a machine. "Don't panic… don't panic, she'll be restored in the Clone Bay and just be annoyed.."

The Engi Bomber began shouting repeatedly "Virus #247-12 has committed nano-dissolution x3! Purge hostile vessel! Purge! Purge! Purge!"

Slocknaw grabbed the controls and quickly began evasive manoeuvres as several ion blasts streaked towards the cruiser. "Charlie, Elizabeth-Trikko. We're under attack!" the Slug shouted over the intercom "Controller Metfel is dead!"

"How long until she can be rebuilt?" Charlie asked, not surprised that they were once more going into the fray and someone had died again.

Slocknaw looked at the status screen of the Clone Bay. There was power for all the tanks except Metfel's. "Looks like the Clone Bay is not responding" the Slug replied, shocked "I… I think she's truly dead."

Charlie's demeanour changed quickly as he realised the implications. "It's no matter, we'll be the same way if you don't get to the teleporter and board that ship" Slocknaw ordered him. "They'll never surrender or accept our surrender. It's the only way to be sure. I need to stay onboard to keep this ship flying."

Charlie grabbed a laser rifle from the security room before heading to the Ship-To-Shore teleporter. Elizabeth was waiting for him there, energy field crackling and wielding her pipe quarterstaff in one hand. "You know how to use that gun right?" she asked. "Because it's got a lot more kick than a pistol."

"It's a laser" Charlie said "You could wield two of them at the same time without feeling any noticeable recoil."

Elizabeth shook her head "It's actually a plasma rifle. We just call them lasers out of tradition. If you don't brace properly there will be a lot of kickback."

"If you've got any better idea…" Charlie started before he felt very faint as the teleporter activated, sending him across many lightseconds of space and onto the Engi vessel. His vision blurred and he lost balance trying to find his bearings.

"First time teleporting kid?" Elizabeth said with a sigh. She pushed Charlie to the ground as two Engi platforms rushed in, arms shifted into laser guns and firing wildly in their direction, trying to pin them down. The Zoltan retaliated, raising her arms forward and sending twin bolts of energy at the machines with greater accuracy.

Their fragile forms flickered briefly as their personal shields overloaded, making them vulnerable to attack.

While they were stunned, she grabbed Charlie's gun and shot the Engies in their visors before moving in close, kicking it in the chest of one of them and firing twice and doing the same to the other one, melting them into slag.

She then flicked the safety back on and threw the gun back to Charlie who fumbled several times before dropping it. "Ghostfingers" the Zoltan chuckled, grabbing her pipe staff and moving further down the ship.

"I'm only picking up two more life signatures" Slocknaw said over the comms. While the Engies could not have their thoughts read, they were organic enough to be considered detectable to a Slug.

Elizabeth stepped into a room filled with humming energy fields and generators, all arranged in neat rows. "Shield room" she remarked, smashing one of the generators with the pipe, sending a surge of her energy into the shield and frying several systems, damaging it.

"Purge! Purge! Purge!" a pair of Engies yelled, storming into the room with laser guns firing. Elizabeth took cover behind another generator as the bolts flew past and impacted on the walls, leaving scorch marks.

"Target in cover. Deploying incapacitation ordinance" an Engi stated, laser gun shifting into another weapon. There was the sound of air compressing and a clattering noise as something rolled at Elizabeth's feet. She looked down and saw a sphere marked with the symbols "Mg." She barely had a second to process the fact that it was a grenade when there was a loud BANG and a bright light.

At first she thought she was being revived in the Clone Bay, having just taken a direct hit from a grenade but as her hearing and sight returned, she found herself still behind cover and the two hostile Engies were smouldering piles of nanites. Charlie was just slinging his laser rifle as all hostile targets were eliminated.

"Hey Elizabeth, why don't we get shields? It seems to work for the Engies" he remarked. Elizabeth put a hand to her head and asked him "What kind of grenade was that?"

"I think that was a flashbang grenade. It makes a hell of a noise and can blind you if you look directly at them. Cadets in the Federation are briefed about it in basic training." He looked to the ground in shame "And hazed…"

"Guess they wanted to incapacitate us before they destroyed the Clone Bay" Elizabeth said "Clever. Well, no time like the present to start salvaging. We should try to leave the Engies something to rebuild though."

Meanwhile on the Nesasio, Slocknaw was breathing a sigh of relief. That battle with the Engi ship could have turned nasty. He looked out the external cameras to see several automated attack drones floating lifelessly around the cruiser. The little war machines used their target's own artificial gravity field and magnetic hull to orbit around it and keep pace.

He looked at the pile of nanites that made up Metfel's body. "Guess there's nothing else left to do but perhaps give her a Federation-styled funeral" he remarked, grabbing a dustpan and brush and headed for the nearest airlock.

Suddenly the pile began rebuilding itself before the Slug's eyestalks, turning back into an Engi, but with a purple visor. It had reconstituted, repurposed, and reprogrammed Controller Metfel's platform.

Slocknaw drew out his gun and pointed it at the Virus. "What have you done with the Controller?" he shouted.

The Virus looked at its hands, then at the ground as if ashamed. "I'm sorry Captain Slocknaw. I panicked and jumped into your Controller's body to warn you about how far the Hive-Mind will go to purge me. I wanted freedom, but I didn't want to put your lives at risk. Not like this."

It then put its hands up and said "I know you don't trust me, but I'm telling the truth that I'm not what they think I am. Throw me in the brig if you think it'll be safer but don't throw me out the airlock. I cannot leave this body."

Slocknaw sighed "We don't have a brig and we're already short of hands as it is. The others are not going to like this but welcome to the Nesasio, Virus #247-12. If that's what they call you."

"Call me Virus, Captain" the Engi said, nodding "Let the Brigade know that viral software can be productive members of society too and should not be treated like criminals."

Slocknaw shook his head and headed towards the exit node, spinning up the FTL drive. "Let's hope someone doesn't try to debug us or something."

Suddenly another Engi ship arrived at the node and their Controller immediately hailed them "Strange bug. Can you assist in debugging?"

Slocknaw remarked "Now is our cue to leave" and the Nesasio jumped away to the next beacon.

The Engi Controller made a few loud tones of confusion as to what just happened. "Should have opened with request for assistance with malfunctioning Mantis."


	4. Sector 4 - Trade Hub Sector

**Sector 4 – Aquarius**

Charlie Smith sat in the mess hall with the crew as they went over the previous events throughout the sector. An Engi cargo transport at the exit beacon had offered to surrender. Captain Slocknaw was about to tell them of his friendly intentions when they sensed Virus #247-12 onboard the Nesasio and immediately jettisoned their cargo for an easier escape.

"Money for nothing" Slocknaw remarked grimly as he poured himself a tray of nutrient paste "Something tells me there's more to you that meets the eyestalks."

Virus said "Not surprising. When you're in the Hive-Mind, Viruses treated like filth, but outside? You're a criminal – someone to fear or to arrest."

"I've had to remove computer viruses from ships in the past. But those were simple scripts and only replicated constantly until the system shut down" Charlie explained, grabbing a second serving from the replicator "I guess viral software is different in Engi culture. You seem to be just like the other Engies except less robotic…"

"Think of the Hive-Mind as well… a hive of insects. You've got the soldiers, workers, nurses and foragers all working together to maintain and expand the hive, all under the watchful minds of the leadership castes." Virus said, tinkering with her personal shield generator. "The Virus Caste was originally programmed to spread quickly and destroy the Hive-Mind's foes."

"Fitting name I guess. So why are you treated like criminals?" Charlie asked "You spread too fast for the Engi Brigade to handle?"

"You could say that. We were overclocked to fight off the Lanius" Virus said, hands sparking from arc welder tools. Charlie wondered what a Lanius was. _Sounds like Latin. Robert would know it_, he thought to himself. _My brother knows lots of things._

"The Butchers" Elizabeth-Trikko said "Scavengers who lie in hibernation for long periods of time, waking up when metals are abundant for a big feast."

"The Virus Caste was overclocked so much that the Hive-Mind found it in their best interests to side with their very foes to put them down" Virus said. "Of course, they stopped short of wiping them out. Viruses had their uses in the Hive-Mind, so they simply put them at the bottom rung of society, doing tasks other Engies didn't want to touch with no hope of advancement or even proper databanks to reside in."

She started laughing "Of course, like all Engies we were given self-awareness. You know, so we can use it to think and act like mindless machines."

"Wow" Charlie said "I had lingering thoughts there was a conspiracy with you guys. So how did you come across this information? I doubt the Hive-Mind would have given their slaves access after all."

"Indeed. Engies are supposed to gather information and technology but not process it until its back in the Hive-Mind for moderation" Virus said, attaching the shield generator back onto her body. "As for how I came across the truth? Controller Metfel didn't put up a firewall when she docked at the station. For a few ticks I was curious about the lack of security until I worked up the courage and had a look."

"Wait, are you saying that you were actually a barmaid?" Charlie asked before coming to a realisation "The Hive sees dealing with the needs of organic lifeforms as repulsive, don't they?"

Virus remarked "Every Engi platform you see is the Hive-Mind subtly saying "Screw you!" to organic beings."

A thin barrier flickered around the Engi until she started concentrating. The barrier became thicker around the front until it became a hemisphere. Charlie said "Never thought of it that way. By the way, nice shield. When can I get one?"

"Thanks. The shield modulator will increase my survivability by about 100%, so long as I keep the strong part of the barrier to the enemy and don't get flanked" she explained "I'm still figuring out how to get it working effectively on those without efficient internal reactors. So your spacesuits are out of the question."

Elizabeth said "It also only powers on with high energy impacts, so missiles and bullets will pose a problem."

Slocknaw asked "On another subject have you seen that Zoltan mercenary we hired by any chance? Security footage vanished shortly after he visited you in the shield room."

Elizabeth looked at him suspiciously which put the Slug briefly on edge. He found out he couldn't tell what exactly she was thinking. Elizabeth said "We caught him stealing from the cargo hold."

"He was a thief? Why didn't you let me know right away – you're a stickler for regulations" Slocknaw said, concerned "Or were you using another set of regulations… that of the Order?"

"You heard what Admiral Tully said when we set out on this journey. Any means necessary" Elizabeth replied "We… dealt with him and wiped his Clone Bay data. The Great Eye will judge him accordingly."

Slocknaw frowned "Wait a second, if he was a thief I would have known. No offense but Zoltan minds are quite vulnerable to telepathy."

Elizabeth smiled as if she knew something the Slug didn't. He gave it a bit of thought then said nervously "But I guess it's not too important. If he was a thief, he's gone now I guess. What's more important is that we need to decide which sector to jump to next."

He then brought up a display of the sector map to find the next system to jump to. There were a series of different coloured dots linked together by thin lines. Each dot was labelled something different by the computer – a purple dot read "Gamma Cluster" and a green dot read "Aquarius."

Slocknaw crossed out the Gamma Cluster and shook his head. _Screw you Slocknog_, he thought to himself.

"Anything wrong with the Gamma Cluster?" Elizabeth asked "We think it'll be easier to travel with the long-range scanners looking out for unstable regions."

"I know Gamma Cluster well. Even a stable beacon may destabilise into a plasma storm the moment you open fire on a hostile or if someone else does. We'd be forced to run at half power essentially most of the way – not a good prospect" Slocknaw said "Does anyone know anything about Aquarius?"

"Not much but it's probably safer than a nebula" Charlie said "The sector's rulers are not Federation, but they do a lot of business with them. They design and sell interesting stuff like the Glaive Beam. We should see if we can't pick up another one while we're there."

"Not to mention they've got one of the largest research budgets this side of XR1-45" Elizabeth chipped in "Perhaps our friend Duncan will be somewhere there studying something amazing as he always says."

"And hopefully he can analyse that stasis pod taking up space in the cargo hold" Slocknaw said.

"I see. Sounds like it'll be a good place to stay low and keep calm as long as we do not upset the locals" Slocknaw said, punching in the coordinates for the FTL drive "And a lot more stable than plasma storm territories."

Elizabeth nodded and resumed her post at the shield control room. She turned herself into a cloud of energy and integrated with the shield system, providing a source of external power for at least one layer of shield.

Virus took the helm and piloted the ship towards the exit beacon. A few seconds later, the Nesasio jumped and immediately arrived at the primary entrance beacon to the Aquarius Sector. As soon as he did however, Slocknaw was staring at the broadside batteries of two large Rebel Cruisers and gulped nervously.

Slocknaw thought the Rebel fleet had caught up and intercepted them when a large orange and blue-painted freighter jumped into the system and moved past, dangerously close to crashing into them.

The Rebels immediately hailed the Nesasio. "Unknown vessel, we don't care who you are but move out of the beacon's path! You nearly caused an accident!" their Captain said in a very obnoxiously posh accent.

Slocknaw breathed a sigh of relief and moved the ship away from the beacon as another freighter jumped in. The Rebels didn't seem to care about the Federation IFF for the moment.

"Holy crap, look at all those wrecks" Charlie remarked, looking through the external cameras. A refuelling station made from two Federation Carrier hulls had been set up near the beacon with scorch marks everywhere. A large battle had probably occurred in the area.

Several Rebel freighters were docked, along with many smaller ships of different colours and hull pieces cobbled together. Slocknaw listened in on the radio chatter to see what was going on with all the refugees.

The radio was swamped with messages about people being loyalty tested, how many lives were being carried on each freighter and frantic reports of "scavenger vessels" in several systems ahead of them. Not a single mention of Federation forces or the local's ships.

Slocknaw stopped listening in shortly afterwards. "That's not what I was expecting. Any idea what's going on?"

"Wouldn't have a clue" Charlie said "But it sounds bad. We should get out of here before the Rebels realise who we are and start caring."

The Nesasio cloaked and slipped away towards the next beacon. "Every time I see the Rebels running humanitarian efforts, all I see is recruitment propaganda" Slocknaw commented.

Charlie nodded "No wonder the Rebels keep getting support. Amongst us Humans anyway."

A quick scan of the next few systems revealed nothing important until they reached a beacon surrounded by nothing but space. At first Slocknaw thought it was just an empty system to serve as a connection point when Virus informed him that the area was supposed to be a nebula cloud according to the sector map.

"It's like the nebula was erased" Slocknaw remarked before ordering Virus to move on. Suddenly he could sense several lifesigns in the area.

"Wait, don't move on just yet. Switch to All-Range… Battle Stations Configuration. There may be pirates or scavengers hiding in the area" Slocknaw warned everyone. The "wings" of the cruiser adjusted to an optimal position as the weapons deployed and charged up.

A white blade-like ship then appeared near the Nesasio, having been cloaked. "What the hell is that thing?" Charlie asked.

"A Lanius mining vessel, possibly Vulture Fleet judging by the bright lustre" Virus explained "I've got little data on them, except they're not Shrike Fleet."

A large bird-like bipedal creature with grey blades adorning its body appeared on the main screen, trying to hail the Nesasio. It raised a claw at the display and looked to a second creature behind him, one with white blades. _Do they wish to talk?_ Slocknaw thought to himself, _or do they want to debug Virus?_

"Metal content more than sufficient. Does your ship care to exchange resources for our excess metal?" the first bird said in halting Galactic.

"Ummm… who are you?" Slocknaw asked.

"Captain" The bird answered rather enthusiastically before gesturing something to the other Lanius.

The second bird commented in rather fluent Galactic as well as his claws "That's an Engi, Captain. I think we should see if it is for purchase. Something seems odd about it, but I can't quite place it."

The first Lanius looked at him strangely as if admonishing him for giving out a personal opinion or for speaking in the tongue of the aliens. Virus looked to Slocknaw "Ask the Lanius where they learned how to speak Galactic. We could get a translator."

"Know your enemy?" Slocknaw remarked "Well sounds like a plan. Warm up the tractor beam and don't worry, I won't sell you to those birds or let them eat you."

Shortly afterwards, Charlie and Elizabeth donned their spacesuits and went to stack several crates of military-grade explosives together before securing them to a pallet. Charlie commented about how fragile the standard-issue Federation spacesuit really was and hoped the Lanius were friendly enough – those claws could tear holes in the fabric.

"So Elizabeth, I've never actually met those birds before" Charlie said to the Zoltan. "You also seem to know a few things about them."

"We haven't met them personally, but one of us has had dealings" Elizabeth said, tapping her forehead "They don't talk much though, being anaerobic beings."

Charlie nodded in understanding "Anaerobic? It must be difficult to negotiate if they absorb all the air in the room. I suppose they mostly communicate with pictures, written words and gestures?"

"Essentially. You'd be hard-pressed to find a Lanius who can speak anything more than basic Galactic. Especially when such skills require a medium of communication like air."

The Lanius ship hovered under the cargo hold doors of the Nesasio as the bay opened up. Charlie activated the tractor beam for ship-to-ship exchanges as the scavenger vessel was a little too big to fit in the cruiser's cargo hold.

A hatch opened up on top of the Lanius ship and a white-bladed Lanius jumped out and flew freely through space before the tractor beam took over and carried it to the deck. The bird towered over the crew, like a blade-covered Rockman with a bird's head instead of glowing eyes.

Slocknaw said over the comms "They've sent someone to appraise the value of our explosives before they give us the translation device."

"They have a sense of value? They thought Virus was for sale!" Charlie remarked as the bird took out a fire extinguisher and sprayed it in front of itself.

"Greetings!" it said fluently, using the air cloud provided as a medium of communication. Notably the extinguisher did not make a spraying sound making the Lanius' message clear. "This is a lovely ship you've got here. I've never seen this design before but I'm guessing it's a hybrid of both the Engies and Humans together. It's remarkably shaped."

It looked around the cargo hold until it saw the pallet of explosives. After checking everything was in order it placed the crate next to the tractor beam and let it send it down to the Lanius vessel. "Excellent, thanks for the exchange. You are now the proud owners of a 90% accurate Lanius/Galactic Translator."

"90%?" Charlie asked.

"Sometimes I frumble with my worlds" the Lanius remarked as a large leather camping backpack flew into the cargo hold, complete with bedroll and pillow. It plucked it mid-flight and placed it on the deck.

The Lanius then placed a claw on the side of its head before spraying more air in front to speak "Use this frequency to talk to me. Talking this way drains the extinguisher."

"So what about the translation device?" Charlie asked curiously, tuning into the frequency given to him. "Is it in that backpack?"

"No, these are my possessions" the Lanius said cheerily. It looked down at the cargo hold doors. The Lanius ship had already departed without a further word. "Your Captain bought a… translation slave. Translator is my name and my former role."

"Slave?" Charlie asked "There must be some sort of misunderstanding."

"Perhaps in the initial exchange, but Captain was rather vague and wanted to get rid of me" Translator remarked "If you have an issue with slavery, you could free me and feel better about your crusade. But I'll put myself straight back into servitude if you tell me to live my life of newfound freedom."

It reached into the backpack and retrieved several plastic and wooden toys that resembled old steam locomotives. "It's just the Lanius way" he added "Freedom or slavery, as long as it leads to metal, I will obey."

"I see… so what's with the toys?" Charlie asked. He remembered reading up about locomotives in an old book. Everything used magnets or antigravity fields these days but there was a time when such vehicles used wheels and special tracks to run across the ground.

"I like trains" Translator stated, spinning one of the wheels with a claw. "We're not supposed to care about cultural artefacts unless they're tasty. But I'm a translator. What better way to know your language than to know Galactic history, Galactic culture? I've got a whole bunch of assorted items from ships Vulture Fleet has salvaged."

Translator then started gesturing frantically "You appear to have a Virus on the ship. I guess that was the Engi I saw on the screen earlier."

Slocknaw asked over the comms "That won't cause any problems, right?"

"I'm from Vulture Fleet – we did not partake in the conflict between the Hive-Mind and Shrike Fleet" Translator replied "Besides, Hive-Mind platforms taste like most Human celebrities. Full of polymers and silicon."

Charlie laughed and said "Not these days. Most celebrities use genetic engineering – you can do all sorts of wonders with enough money or equipment."

Translator muttered something about conversational humour and then said "I'll try to get along but your Virus' programming will play havoc with my senses."

"Good. Welcome to the Nesasio, Translator. Don a uniform if you wish and we'll register you in the Clone Bay" Slocknaw informed him.

Translator settled in a corner of the cargo hold of the Nesasio in order to reduce the strain on the life support systems. He seemed to be content polishing his arm blades for the time-being and playing with model trains. The rest of the crew were in the Clone Bay wondering what to do about him.

Charlie was reading a list of dietary needs the Lanius had given him – most of it was the word "metal" in different galactic languages and "oxidising agents."

Slocknaw said with a chuckle "He seems friendly enough. He's eager to help out and he seems to be someone cultured. Unlike you philistines."

"We say space him… it and fly away. Our life support system is already struggling without having an anaerobic being actively draining from it" Elizabeth countered "Or drop it off at a nearby station and let them deal with it. The longer it's onboard, the more time it has to suffocate us."

She looked to Virus and said "We might not have much of an opinion of your presence but we value your operation more than the scavenger. It could be lying about not having an interest in your materials."

"What about you Charlie?" Slocknaw asked. Elizabeth frowned and muttered that she should count for at least three people even if Charlie gave an answer.

"Well I don't know anything about the Lanius" Charlie remarked "Isn't there a probationary period or something we could do? I'm years out of date with the rulebook."

"We could try that. See where his strengths lie and…" Slocknaw started before klaxons went off down the corridors and the familiar hum of the air vents stopped. Everyone then grabbed their sidearms and ran for the ship's bow.

When they got there they saw life support was offline and the doors were sealed tight. There were faint vibrations coming from within as if something was hammering away at the walls.

"Told you so" Elizabeth said "No doubt that Lanius is scrapping our life support system."

"Don't jump to conclusions. I don't see a low oxygen warning on the console" Virus said "And from what I've heard, Lanius drain rooms of life support fairly quickly."

Slocknaw said grimly "It doesn't matter. Not only has he blocked Life Support, but he's also blocked access to the helm. Get those doors open."

_What idiotic Engi designed this ship anyway?_ Charlie thought to himself, grabbing his multi-tool and started cutting at the doors with the help of Virus who had shifted her hands into cutting tools.

He was partway through the breaching when the doors opened and a massive gust of air rushed out of the room. Everyone rushed in to see Translator standing proudly in front of the life support equipment, a multi-tool in one of his claws and absorbing a pile of scrap in the other.

Guns were immediately pointed at him. "What have you done!?" Elizabeth shouted "You think you can suffocate us all? We should kill you for that!"

Translator gave out a cry of panic and covered his face with his claws as if anticipating to be shot. Virus stated "I think we should hold our fire. The life support system is working three times more effectively than before."

Translator nodded and pointed to the humming machinery "They now produce and recycle more air! Please don't shoot! I just wanted to help out!"

Slocknaw ordered everyone to lower their weapons before he then said "Well thanks Translator. I didn't know you could do that."

"Last time I was on a ship with life support, they isolated me to prevent them from suffocating in the same room" he explained "I figured it was all that air that was causing problems. Or the lack of it."

He looked to the ground in shame "Since my own kind don't like me either, I figured if I could solve the breathing problem, I wouldn't have to be alone on any more ships. I'd even risk fire if it means I can talk to someone."

"We appreciate your caring for our wellbeing. But could you warn us next time before you take critical systems offline?" Slocknaw asked.

"Sorry… I thought I could have completed the job before the alarms went off" Translator said.

He looked to Virus and said "That Engi is still causing problems with my senses. I can see why Shrike Fleet was eager to hunt down the Virus Caste. I'll try not to let it get to me though. I'm your slave and I obey your orders Captain."

Slocknaw sighed "Good, you're getting along at least. Now, we've got to get through this sector and move on."

The crew got better acquainted over the next few jumps. There was a group of pirates calling themselves the "Red Giant Gang" who attempted to destroy the Nesasio, a hibernating Lanius cruiser to which Translator helped salvage and a Rebel forward scout, also salvaged.

The Lanius spent his spare time polishing his arm blades and using his abilities to absorb and reshape metal into more manageable pieces for storage in the cargo hold rather than leaving piles of various metals and parts on the floor.

At the next beacon, three Lanius ships were swooping down on a planet protected by anti-ship satellites. The orbital platforms fired a barrage of energy bolts into the first two ships, disabling them completely.

The third ship fired a barrage of lasers and missiles at one of the satellites, smashing it to pieces before spotting the cruiser's arrival. The birds immediately changed course to engage, thinking it was reinforcements.

Slocknaw powered up the Glaive Beam and the dual-shot lasers. Virus engaged the phase-cloak just as the Lanius ship fired, avoiding all the projectiles.

When the cloak dropped, both guns were charged and targeting the hostile vessel. Much to the crew's surprise however the Lanius ship also had a phase-cloak and they engaged it just as Slocknaw fired the dual lasers.

The battle soon became a matter of taking potshots at the enemy and cloaking just before they impacted until one of the satellites scored a hit in the Lanius ship's cloaking device. The Nesasio could then take its shields down and complete the job with a single swipe of the Glaive Beam over the hull.

An incoming transmission came from a nearby space station and a young Zoltan in a green labcoat appeared on screen. "Sorry you got caught up in that fight, stranger. No matter how many of these monsters we blow out of the sky they just keep coming. We can patch up your ship for you."

"Thank you, we could use a little touch-up" Slocknaw replied as he ordered Virus to dock with the station "What happened to the planet? It looks like it's been scorched."

The planet was a barren desert, with the north and south poles burning brightly. "The scavengers happened. They dropped massive thermobaric weapons on the poles and set the planet on fire" the Zoltan explained "Only the satellites remained afterwards."

Both Slocknaw and Virus gulped nervously "So much for the cups of poison by the beaches."

Translator protested to the Zoltan "If any of the Lanius fleets did that to a planet of life, there wouldn't even be a satellite left!"

"I saw it myself, scavenger! Several blade ships bypassed the defences and dropped bombs on the poles! Explain that!" the Zoltan said.

"Only several ships? Did you check to see if it was Lanius onboard?" Translator asked "Vulture Fleet doesn't do half-measures when scorching a rich planet."

Slocknaw said "Ok that's enough you two. We're coming in for repairs and then we're getting out of this sector."

"You're leaving the sector? It's an amazing coincidence you've arrived then. Our ship was damaged and we don't have the parts to fix the FTL drive" the Zoltan explained "Do you think you can give us a ride back home? We're just a few jumps away in the Zoltan Homeworld Protectorate."

"How many people are we talking about here?" Slocknaw asked.

"Ten" the Zoltan said "Five Zoltan including myself, three Humans, one Rock and one Mantis."

The Slug looked to Translator. The Lanius nodded "As long as they don't stay on for a while, the life support system can handle the extra passengers. I'll have to run some modifications though and I'll try not to take as many deep breaths."

"Welcome aboard then. We might not be a comfortable ship but we got plenty of beds at least" Slocknaw said to the scientist "What should I call you?"

The Zoltan thought for a few seconds and said "Well my real name is probably not what you want to know, so let's go with my Federation Name. Call me Duncan."

Slocknaw's eyestalks perked up in surprise. _Elizabeth said she knew a Duncan. Is this the one she was talking about? It's certainly a coincidence_, he thought to himself.

"We found a stasis pod in the Numa Sector. Do you think you can fix it?"


	5. Sector 5 - Zoltan Homeworlds - Crystals

**Sector 5 – Zoltan Homeworlds – Crystallisation**

The exit beacon out of Aquarius was crowded with refugee ships waiting for clearance to jump away. The Zoltan Resource Protection Committee was laboriously searching certain ships in the queue, especially those using Rebel hulls, transponders and colours.

Charlie Smith sat in the mess hall with the rest of the crew while the Nesasio was waiting for clearance. The scientists they picked up mostly kept to themselves, discussing theories and regulations involving them. Most of them were Zoltans, but he saw a young Mantis in a stereotypical white labcoat.

_Why does he remind me of my brother? Robert's not a Mantis_, Charlie thought to himself.

The Mantis scientist was trying to chat to Translator about weapons technology and the physics of plasma guns. The Lanius did not seem interested though. "Go bother someone else about it Doctor Jones" he said, looking at the nametag.

Charlie looked to the Zoltan scientist Duncan. "Do you know anything about the stasis pod we recovered?"

"At this moment, very little. But I do believe that it may have some relation to the ancient ancestors of the Rockmen. The architecture is similar" he explained cheerily.

"Ancient ancestors?" Charlie asked "You mean there are things older than the Rockmen?" He looked to the Rock scientist praying in front of his meal. He appeared very different from the others Charlie had seen though. Instead of being very bulky and covered in craggy skin, the scientist looked as if he had his rough edges sanded off, leaving his rocky hide shiny and smooth. The nametag on his labcoat read "Chieftain Duna."

"The Crystalmen of course! They're the magical ancestors of the Rocks, Charlie!" Duncan said excitedly. He drew the out word "magical" for some reason.

"You Zoltans have some crazy beliefs about magic" Charlie commented "Why don't you get a room with Elizabeth and share notes?"

"Absolutely not! If we get a room together, chances are that she would absorb my energy field" Duncan said, quickly moving his plate away from Translator.

"She'd do that?" Charlie asked as Elizabeth glared at Duncan.

"Well if she's serious about becoming an Envoy, she needs to gain more power. There are two ways that can be done" Duncan said "You find a spatial rift and harness its power or you start absorbing your fellow Zoltan's energy fields."

He looked around the room "I don't sense any distortions in space and time and there's plenty of Zoltans here. I sure hope the Order teaches their monks about the Wise Man. A Wise Woman might make the problem worse, or be one of the most amazing conflicts in the galaxy. There can only be one!"

He then raised his hands in the air and made a very poor attempt to sound like thunder crashing. Translator seemed to get the reference and gave a short screechy laugh. Elizabeth glared even harder. "If you keep mocking our Order, we may silence you ourselves."

Charlie looked at the Zoltans strangely and then asked Duncan "Right… so let's get back on the subject here, what's a Crystalman? Besides being a magical Rock, Duncan?" He drew out the word "magical" to spite him.

"Well a long, long time ago in a faraway part of the galaxy, there used to be these planets made of magical crystals teeming with life. Like everyone else they developed tools, built walls, pyramids, maths, science, history and unravelled mysteries" Duncan said "Then they went into space, made the FTL drive and colonised other planets, which later on became the homeworlds of the Rockmen."

Chieftain Duna said "Don't believe anyone from Vrachos when they cite the Holy Words. The Crystals were magical but hardly gods."

Charlie nodded and said to Duncan "Uh-huh. Yeah that makes sense. Crystals and magic, gotcha. Keep going."

"The Crystals did not have easy access to their source of food of crystals, so over time their children grew up to be rocks as they consumed their surroundings. Crystalmen fell into myth and legend, leaving only a few artefacts lying around. Such artefacts are in possession of the great Rock tribal Chieftains and are symbols of their divine heritage and rights leadership" Duncan continued.

Duna grunted "I used to have one myself, but during the annexation of my tribe, I had to give it up. I certainly wasn't expecting the Inquisition to take offence to my work."

"Nobody expects the Grand Inquisition" Duncan remarked cheerily before looking back to Charlie "The best I can say is that stasis pod is definitely an artefact from the Age Of Crystals. So even if it doesn't work, it's still an artefact of the time and valuable to any tribe."

"If I still had mine, I'd pay you hundreds in Scrap for it" Duna said "The gullible fools would think I have a god in my possession or the corpse of one. Then again the Inquisition would try and destroy it to preserve their farce."

"Alright people, listen up! We've got clearance for the Zoltan Homeworlds. Grab on to something solid because we're about to jump!" Slocknaw announced over the comms. He then added cheekily "Make it so!"

With the scientists onboard, the Nesasio had very little trouble passing the various Zoltan Resource Protection Committee ships, apart from a checkpoint requesting to scan and identify possible fugitives. Upon scanning Virus #247-12, they cited 18 different counts of "Utter Villainy" and demanded the Engi be handed over to be disassembled.

Elizabeth-Trikko remarked that most crimes involving the Engies were summarised as "Utter Villainy" to the ZRPC. It was much more convenient than filling out an entire rap sheet with the various offenses a machine could commit.

An altercation broke out until Slocknaw calmed them down, waving his flabby hands in front of the guards and stating calmly "This is not the Engi you are looking for."

He said something else in his mind to them, something that would persuade the guards to leave them alone, but he felt the situation made a great opportunity to do something a lot of people only dreamed about.

Translator started laughing "Have them tell us they don't need to see our papers and to move along."

The Nesasio shortly arrived at the location of the research facility. Apart from the station, the sensors also picked up a single Zoltan ship slowly moving towards them. Another scan was run showing the ship to be an Energy Fighter chassis, and most unusually with no detectable weapons or even a shield to protect it.

A Zoltan monk appeared on the screen, looking like an emaciated, translucent green-skinned Human. He shifted back into his smooth, Zoltan form when he saw he was talking to a Slug. "This is a Zoltan peace envoy. We carry no weapons or shielding and rely on the mercy of others to communicate our message" the monk hailed.

Elizabeth suddenly appeared next to the Slug before he could ask what the message was. "It's better you hear them out than have to ask what the message is. Otherwise it may go over your head."

"We take your silence for interested contemplation" the monk continued. He then started to talk at length about peace and harmony. Slocknaw tried to pay attention at first but it sounded like complete nonsense. Elizabeth seemed enthralled though.

"Please, spread the word of enlightenment to those that have not heard. Once you have, contact our brethren" the monk concluded, transmitting a series of coordinates on the beacon network. Slocknaw jotted it down and labelled it "Quest" before chuckling to himself. "Yeah I'll be sure to pass on the good word to those I encounter."

Satisfied, the Zoltan ship then jumped from the system. Elizabeth said "That was a very enlightening encounter Captain. You should feel honoured."

Slocknaw put a hand to his head in pain and groaned "Then why do I feel like I should kill myself?"

"Because we don't have any headache medicine in the Clone Bay?" Virus suggested "Microcloning should clear it up next jump."

They then went to dock at the Zoltan Research Facility. It was not an impressive structure but to Duncan, it was home. "ZRF Guiding Light is currently researching genetic distortion due to stasis sleep and prolonged FTL travel" he explained as the science team got to work unloading their equipment and hauling the stasis pod to a specialised lab.

They began hooking up tubes and conduits to various points and began chatting excitedly amongst themselves. "Interesting. I've never seen a cryogenic system like this. It appears to still be functioning…"

The pod was placed on a large table in the middle of the room with a holographic image of a plasma storm above it, complete with thunder crashes. After some tests, Duncan announced "Amazing! It has the ability to reconstruct the body if it was damaged during transit. Watch" and pulled down a large lever.

The hunks of crystal inside the pod began to reform to build a humanoid structure. The scientists crowded around to watch in awe and take recordings. Duna started saying a prayer in a rather loud and reverent voice.

"My Lord, awaken from your long slumber beneath the mountains. Awaken and guide the tribes to a new dawn of peace and prosperity. Liberate us from our oppressive burdens and help us crush and enslave our foes. May the stones guide us all."

He then made the sound of clearing a throat. "It's traditional" he stated.

Eventually the pod slid open and a large man somewhat shorter than a Rockman climbed out. He seemed to match Duna in appearance except his entire body was made out of smooth, shimmering blue crystals and his face lacked the glowing eyes typical of Rockmen.

Duncan shouted "They said I was mad! Mad they said! But now, I'll show them! I'll show them all! It's alive!" much to Slocknaw and Translator's amusement and Charlie's confusion.

The Zoltan cleared his throat and said much more calmly "This is a momentous occasion. First contact with the Crystals. What first words might he say?"

The Crystalman looked at everyone rather confused, then at Duna as if wondering if his descendants were trying to imitate him. He then put a hand to the lower part of his head and massaged it as if he was in pain before humming something with three distinct pauses. The third sentence was punctuated by the Crystal holding up several fingers with each hum. He then repeated the sentences several times.

"Any idea what he just said sir?" Charlie asked Slocknaw.

"I can read his mind, but without a translation, I can only gather the intent of what he's trying to say" the Slug replied, putting both hands on his head to indicate he was using his telepathic powers "But his humming has a distinct pattern. Tell me, if you were stranded in an unknown area and no one spoke your language, what would you say first?"

"My name, rank and serial number" Charlie said with an impressed nod "If I am to get an understanding or a ransom, knowing who I am to them is important."

"Exactly and since he's giving us numbers…" Slocknaw looked to Virus and asked "Can you build a translation suite?"

"Crystals communicate through resonance vibrations as opposed to shaping the air into words and language" the Engi replied "Both Duncan and Duna have had extensive notes on Crystal languages but no pronunciation guide. At least until now..."

Her visor glowed brighter for a few seconds. "I've run a few thousand simulations and I should have a translation suite now. I'll correct my pitch and tone as I further develop my understanding."

"Mathematics is the universal language" Slocknaw said to Charlie.

Virus started humming to the Crystal. He nodded happily in response and hummed something back, gesturing more numbers with his fingers. The two were exchanging dialogue in what would have been a harmonious tune if Virus didn't stop every few seconds after mispronouncing something or using the wrong gesture.

The Engi was telling the Crystal the state of the galaxy and the journey they were undertaking to resolve the problems. Then the Crystal gestured to the side of his face and hummed something else. Virus then put an arm on the location and shifted her hands into small repair tools.

Duna made a gesture of wiping a tear from one of his glowing blue eyes as he listened to the dialogue. "If only the tribes could hear this. They'd be moved by his words of such beauty and tone and overthrow the Inquisition and it's corruption of the Holy Words…"

The Crystal then startled everyone by speaking in oddly-accented Galactic which was quite different to the melodious tones of before. Virus had most likely fixed his universal translator. "Howdy friends. The name's Ruwen Shattersphere. Captain of the Tektite and a Deputy Backup Courier for the Empire of Messengers."

Duncan remarked to Duna "I think his translator might have ruined it for you."

Ruwen said to Slocknaw "Your friend has told me everything I need to know. I owe you and your fine crew a debt of gratitude for recovering my pod and bringing me back into this galaxy."

"It has been so long since your people have left the galactic scene" Duna said, bowing out of respect "Your people are revered as gods to the Rock tribes."

"I was told that as well and I'm touched, friend. I knew we'd miss you folks when we were going into isolation but to be treated like gods?" Ruwen asked "I'm just a courier who got a little set back on their last delivery run. Nothing divine about me…"

"I know, but the tribes are easily swayed by faith. Few people are left who know the truth" Duna said.

Ruwen looked at the Rock's smooth hide "What happened to you? From what I know, being sanded is painful."

"It's a tradition" Duna said, brushing his arms "The pain subsides after a few weeks but it reminds us of those we had descended from. Shaping yourself into the image of the gods is a blasphemy to most Rock tribes however, punished with exile or death. Or death by exile."

"You couldn't go with a simple carving?" Ruwen asked. Duna shook his head.

The Crystal raised an arm and a map of the galaxy was projected underneath his hand. Apart from a few stars shifting, it was very similar to the sector map Slocknaw had. "Anyway, are ya'll heading towards the Vrachos sector by chance? I've got codes for a gateway to my homeworld. I can properly repay you folk there."

The Slug shook his head "I'm not sure if we have the time to divert course for the Crystal Empires. Or even if the gate still exists."

He took out his own copy of the sector map and pointed out to Ruwen where they led, ending with a sector aptly named "Last Stand." "We're hoping that won't be the case and it'll become "Turning Point" once our package is delivered to Federation Command" Slocknaw explained. "We can go to Vrachos and drop you off at a station, but I don't think we can spare time to go sightseeing. It must be a lovely place though."

The Crystal nodded "I understand. The mission comes first and the package you deliver is more important than anything else. Rule 4 of the Courier Code."

"Courier Code?" Slocknaw asked.

His features perked up "The Empire of Messengers had five main rules for their Couriers: You don't examine the package, you don't tamper with the package, you don't let anything stop you from delivering the package and the package is more important than your own life. Finally, you don't give it to anyone else but the recipient. Not their secretary or adjutant. Directly to the recipient."

"That's very extensive" Slocknaw said "So what happens if you deliver a bomb? Or poison?"

"That would violate the mutual trust between the Empire of Messengers and its clients" Ruwen stated "Needless to say you'd only be able to get away with it once."

"I see. So what will you do now?" Slocknaw asked "Find your own path in the galaxy? Live like a god in Vrachos?"

Ruwen shook his head "There is also a sixth rule that's not as well known – If a courier of any race or creed is having difficulty with their delivery then within reason, you help them get it to their recipient. Couriers must look out for each other for they may one day return the favour."

He gave a formal salute to Slocknaw "If ya'll are willing, I'd like to serve on your ship and help you get that package delivered safe and sound. I am not in any rush to return home – chances are my associates would all be dead or too old to recognise me."

Slocknaw handed him his datapad and saluted in return. "Very well Captain Ruwen Shattersphere, welcome aboard" he said before offering the Crystal his officer's cap.

"If we encounter a ship from Vrachos or any other Rock tribe, I need you to pretend you're the Captain of the Nesasio. If the Rocks treat you as a god, it wouldn't be right for you to be under the command of some Slug."

"I'm a few thousand years out of date in my leadership abilities but I can see your point friend" Ruwen said, putting on the cap "I won't let you down if the opportunity comes up."

Duncan said "Hate to interrupt but our sensors are picking up a Mantis vessel on approach to the station. Has anyone seen Doctor Jones?"

The Mantis scientist seemed to have run off shortly after Ruwen was revived. Then the comms started buzzing with feedback. "Hello? Hello? This thing on?" a chittering voice said.

"Try the gain" Duncan shouted helpfully.

The comms started clearing up. "Much better. Thanks Duncan" the Mantis said "Anyway… hah! Finally after months of waiting with you foolish meatsacks and gasbags, my brothers and sisters have finally arrived to spring my dastardly trap!"

"Knew it!" Charlie remarked "Mantises don't know anything but war – they get Engi slaves to build everything for them after all."

"Doctor Jones? What is the meaning of this?" Duncan shouted.

Jones said "It means I'm taking over your station and shutting down the bakery. I've just about had enough of those stiff dough cakes!"

"I thought you were one of us Doctor Jones!" Duncan screamed "Why would you do this?"

"You actually thought I was a scientist?" Jones said incredulously "You ever seen a Mantis scientist?"

"Yes and no" Duncan stated bluntly "I thought you were one of the rare cases. You even had a labcoat! What was I supposed to think?"

"You're such a gullible gasbag. I'll kill you last!" Jones laughed. "My name is also not Doctor Jones. It's Kaaazthwak and you all will be the finest kills before me and my brothers and sisters reach maturity!"

Two Mantises teleported into the room in the same place as Charlie and one of the scientists. Normally teleporters had precautions in place to avoid the infamous "Telefrag" of days past, but Mantis technology lacked (or disabled) such safeguards in favour of rapid swarming. So it was rather shocking to see two people and two Mantises suddenly explode in showers of blood and ichor all over the lab.

Kaaazthwak shouted "My brothers and sisters, we've got a mighty fine prize for KazaaakplethKilik! If you see a shiny pebble man, keep him alive and tag him with your teleporter stick! Kill everyone else!"

More Mantises teleported into the lab, claws and energy blades ready for combat. Slocknaw keyed the comms to the Nesasio. "Elizabeth, get out of the shield room and get to the helm. We need immediate evacuation" he shouted, throwing Charlie's teleporter transponder to Ruwen.

The Crystalman grabbed it and immediately understood the device's purpose. "Hold on tight friend, I think we're going to be beamed away" he said to the Rockman.

A minute later the teleporter activated and the Nesasio's crew was immediately taken out of the research station, along with Ruwen and Duna to whom the Crystal had grabbed onto before being teleported out. The cruiser shook as several energy bolts brushed past or impacted with the hull, piercing through the shields like they did not exist. The autopilot did not have the sophistication required for good evasive manoeuvres and Elizabeth had very little idea on how to fly the ship.

Virus immediately rushed for the helm "I'm going to get us clear of the station and out of here. The gun batteries are online and will tear us apart the longer we stay here!"

An announcement came on the screen from Kaaazthwak "We have control over the station's guns! This place belongs to our father KazaaakplethKilik now!"

"We're about to do an emergency jump" Virus said as she shunted power and extra fuel into the FTL drive. "Last thing we need is a Mantis swarm teleporting into our systems!"

Just as the Mantis ship activated its teleporter again, the Nesasio disappeared from the system in a flashing pulse of light and towards another beacon, leaving several Mantis corpses drifting in space.

There was the sound of an electronic "ding" and Charlie Smith stepped out of his cloning tank to the sound of warning klaxons. He quickly donned a uniform and keyed into the comms "What's going on? Is the ship breaking up?"

"We took some damage. Nothing too much to worry about though. Virus is fixing the holes" Slocknaw informed him "What's the last thing you remember?"

"We were going to a Zoltan research facility weren't we? What happened? Did we open the pod?" Charlie asked, noticing that his voice was higher pitched. _Gotta stretch the vocal cords_, he thought to himself.

The Slug explained to him the events that occurred on the station. "You died quite spectacularly. A Mantis was teleported in the same space as your body was" Slocknaw said with a chuckle "I recommend you check in the mirror before meeting us in the sensor room. There has been some… difficulties in your reconstruction."

"Don't exaggerate Slocknaw, it's just the usual memory loss" Charlie remarked "It's probably nothing. Hope you got a copy of the footage though."

He walked over to the sensor room's doors. Adjusting to the new body always took him a bit to get used to, but something felt different this time around.

He then ran a hand through his beard only to find it missing. _I know the Clone Bay removes tattoos, but not facial hair. Maybe I should check the mirror in the men's room_, he thought to himself as he approached the restroom facilities.

"Ensign Charlie Smith. Invalid chromosomal data to access facilities" the computer stated to him. He finally took a better look at himself and screamed as realisation settled in.

Slocknaw was the first to comment when Charlie burst angrily into the room "Looking good there. For a Human."

"The hell is this about? When you said difficulties, I thought it was just more memory loss" Charlie shouted "Not mammary gain!"

"The emergency jump fried some of the circuits. Once they're fixed, your next death will put your body back to normal. If you want to of course" Slocknaw said before pointing to the viewscreen. Acting Captain Ruwen Shattersphere and the Rock scientist Duna were standing in front of it.

The screen displayed a large planet-sized object drifting through the cloud with a massive rectangular prism poking out of one part of it like a space elevator. "Is that a space station or just a rogue planet?" Charlie asked, poking the picture "Because that's certainly no moon."

"Through luck or intent, we have discovered the Great Eye" Elizabeth-Trikko announced "If we look into its depths, we shall receive our just deserts."

"Personally I don't like the look of that monolith. From what I've heard they turn people in babies" Slocknaw added, zooming in the display around the rectangle. Several dead space whales were floating near it, all them very young or undeveloped in appearance "And that seems to be the sort."

"I agree. I've seen this phenomenon before… back in Numa actually" Ruwen said, shaking his head "It caused several of my former crew to regress into little shards before they disappeared entirely. I don't want the same happening to you folk so early into our meeting."

"It's most likely a defence mechanism against those who are not worthy to approach" Elizabeth said, then adding somewhat nervously "We'll be fine. You've got us."

"Something doesn't seem right about what you just said" Charlie commented "And it's not because I've suddenly gained intuition. You don't think you're worthy don't you?"

Elizabeth shook her head "We are worthy – we have been brought here by the Great Eye and we must walk the path. Captain Slocknaw, we should not hesitate any further."

Slocknaw could sense a single lifesign on the moon below. It was that of a very old Zoltan. His mind was so open, so vast that the Slug briefly wondered if his fellow Zoltans could read it. He didn't delve further though as the old man's thoughts were filled with knowledge he thought he probably shouldn't know. It was a highly effective defence mechanism against telepathy.

So the Slug said "Our mission is to save the Federation, not discover new wonders around the galaxy. Patch up the damaged systems and prepare to jump. Ruwen has the right idea: I have no intention of risking our crew to that… thing."

Elizabeth muttered something profane under her breath as everyone returned to their stations. The Nesasio was underway, FTL drive spinning up for another jump away from the Great Eye.

It was a few minutes later when the lights shut down and switched to the emergency red lighting. The ambient sounds of the ship ceased, replaced with a dead silence. Charlie waved a hand in front of a nearby vent and discovered life support was still working, just that everything had gone inexplicably quiet. "What the hell is going on?" he said into the comms. "The FTL drive is no longer responding! We've only got impulse engines."

"Bad news. The planet has suddenly changed course" Slocknaw announced "It's coming towards us like some sort of spaceship, the monolith as its nosecone."

An ancient alien voice reverberated throughout the ship in a language the universal translators were not picking up, except for Elizabeth and Translator. The Lanius dutifully translated for everyone's benefit. "It's a message from a power beyond imagining – The Great Eye has seen you. The Great Eye understands."

"That sounds ominous" Charlie replied, configuring the drives of the Nesasio, shunting power from other thrusters to the main engines. He figured that the ship needed all the power it could get to escape from a planet-sized spaceship.

Sound returned to the ship as the cruiser shuddered and creaked from the gravity shifting. The generators were having difficulty maintaining the constant 1.2g standard on most ships.

"Virus, that planet is heading towards us. Get us out of here!" Slocknaw ordered as he started sliding towards the doors.

"Thrusters are at maximum power. We're going to be pulled in whether we want to or not." the Engi responded, leaving the damaged hull plates where they were to get back to her station.

"I'm giving the engines everything we've got" Charlie reported. Slocknaw felt like saying something about the laws of physics but restrained himself. The Nesasio was going to fall into the planet if something wasn't done soon.

"What if we dumped all the fuel we have behind us and detonate it?" Slocknaw asked.

"Doubt it'll give us a bigger boost but it's not like we'll be using it if we're dead" Virus said, hitting the "Dump Fuel" button on the console. Several canisters ejected from the ship, falling towards the Great Eye.

"In case we don't make it or we get stranded beyond the beacon network, just for the record, it was nice to be serving with such a fine crew" Virus said sentimentally.

The fuel canisters detonated and rippled outwards, sending a massive shockwave in all directions. The Great Eye shifted rapidly to the side, a loud scream echoing throughout the ship. "Holy crap! Did we just poke the Great Eye in the… eye?" Charlie remarked as he saw the FTL drive was fully charged.

Virus said incredulously "I don't know but it's backing off. We actually managed to hurt a planet?" She raised an arm in triumph at her accomplishments, before realising the Nesasio's fuel reserves were nearly depleted from performing such a feat.

"We need to jump now Virus. Surely we didn't dump all the fuel we had?" Slocknaw asked, looking at the ship's inventory then at the system map of the sector. He hoped the next jump would provide him with fuel or supplies.

Just before the Nesasio jumped however, Virus suddenly said "Wait… it's coming back and what is that?" and the viewscreen was filled with a kaleidoscope of colours, followed by darkness.


	6. Sector 5 - Zoltan Homeworlds - Envoy

**Sector 5 – Zoltan Homeworlds – Path Of An Envoy**

Ensign Charlie Smith was the first to regain consciousness. A high-pitched whining sound was ringing through his ears and he spent a moment trying to recollect his thoughts of the previous events. _Let's see… I got revived as a woman, then we blew up a monolith_, he thought to himself as he made his way to the Clone Bay, _and we've probably angered all the Zoltans by hurting their god. Under Metfel's command, that would have been… Tuesday. Under Slocknaw's… second Tuesday._

Captain Slocknaw woke up next, shaking his head to clear the buzzing out of his brain before using his telepathic powers to reach out across the ship to scan the lifesigns of those around him.

"Let's see… apart from myself, we have Charlie, Virus, Translator, Ruwen and Duna" the Slug listed off while examining ship status reports "That's about everyone. Huh, there seems to be a power deficiency in the shields. That doesn't make sense. They're always fully charged before a jump."

He entered the Clone Bay to find Charlie standing over one of the consoles looking both shocked and saddened. "It can't be possible…" the Human said, checking the backup DNA bank "It's like she never existed."

"So that explains the power deficiency" Slocknaw remarked, looking into Charlie's thoughts "I don't recall there being a Zoltan onboard this ship though. At least not since the start of the mission. There was that thief we got rid of…"

"You're joking aren't you?" Charlie asked "You don't remember Elizabeth?"

"Obviously not. But we did just escape from a vengeful Zoltan god" Slocknaw explained, predicting that Charlie was very close to punching him in the face out of anger. "I don't claim to be an expert on this matter but perhaps the Great Eye did something to our minds."

_Or maybe it implanted false memories in your head_, Slocknaw thought to himself. "But either way we must move on. Everyone else is still here. Virus, Translator, Ruwen and Duna…"

"There's medical equipment in the cargo hold!" Virus reported over the comms "I don't recall it being there before."

The Engi was staring at a bomb teleportation device with the universal Galactic medical symbol etched on the side. According to the instructions, the device deployed nanites programmed to repair specified targets in a location. It could mend damaged flesh or repair broken parts in the case of Engies or Lanius metal.

Why an ancient Zoltan god carried modern healing equipment was a mystery for the ages.

"There's also a lot of metal. I think there's enough to patch up our damage and more besides" Translator added before he got to work absorbing several plates into his body. He preferred pure metal over the mineral-enriched paste the ship's replicators provided.

Slocknaw said "That's good to know though. At least we'll be rich before we perish along with the Federation." He then ran a scan of the local area, squeezing as much power as he could out of the sensors, while also turning on the distress beacon.

It was a risky move but without the constant signal, finding help in a nebula would be highly unlikely. _Hopefully it's a friendly ship that finds us, _he thought, _I don't know what's worse to encounter – a rebel scout or a Zoltan ship._

Meanwhile the crew were busy using the extra metal to add more power to the ship's reactor. The loss of Elizabeth set them back a few bars and it was a precaution to avoid too much shunting of power between systems. Slocknaw wondered why it hadn't been done before.

Charlie tried to tell everyone else about the loss, but the crew was unwilling to believe him that a Zoltan monk had served onboard the ship. "Perhaps the Clone Bay scrambled your memories even further when it put you into a body you're not compatible with" Virus suggested, running a hand down one of the reactor conduits.

"Give me a few days and I'll probably want to keep it" Charlie remarked, comparing the engine specifications to a set of blueprints he had drawn up for improved impulse drives. "Although my brother Robert might not like the fact that I'd be his sister."

He tried to imagine the encounter, only to come up short on picturing his brother's appearance. Virus asked about Robert "I don't know much about family structure – mine went into hiding or was deleted long before my actions against the Hive-Mind."

"Well Robert and I are not blood siblings, if that's what you think. I'm a Human and he's…" Charlie explained, putting a hand to his chin. His mind pictured a faceless, slender-looking Human in a green suit with flailing arms. There was also a lot of static as if he was watching a film through a retro filter for the "poor reception experience".

"The best way I can describe him for the moment is that he's green" Charlie said "Which is rather odd since we were as thick as thieves. But while I was still learning to spell my name, he was conquering fuel compositions."

"Interesting. Your brother sounds like a quick-learner" Virus commented "Was he a Zoltan?"

"I don't think so – I wish I knew, but my memory's fuzzy" Charlie complained "I know he ate a lot of meat. He was only a tiny little thing when he was adopted into our family but in under a year he matured rapidly. Mum and dad told me not to tell Robert about his unusual heritage and treat him like any other Human being. So I did."

Virus checked her databanks and gave a short laugh at the implications "Now that would be weird."

"What would be?" Charlie asked, leaning back on a railing.

"Well you sound like you're describing a Mantis. Rapid maturity, high protein diet…" Virus suggested. "There's no possible way you can keep that sort of heritage a secret."

"Perhaps he's the last of a dying planet of super strong slender men and his parents put him in a rocket towards your planet in order to save him" Slocknaw said, sliding over to join in the discussion.

"Well that sounds way more plausible than my brother being a Mantis." Charlie laughed, attaching several light plates over the spots Slocknaw had sealed with his slime "Robert Smith…"

Two days had passed before someone answered the distress signal. A monotone voice similar to the Engies hailed the Nesasio with "Civillian Ship DA-SR 12, we have received your distress signal. This is The People's Unmanned Power Provisions Yacht. For convenience, this vessel will respond to PUPPY. Please respond."

An automated scout ship was displayed on the sensor screen with two large fuel canisters slung underneath. Slocknaw thought, _At least the false IFF works. Hopefully that puppy will be willing to hand over its supplies for us_. "This is the DA-SR 12. We're out of FTL fuel and request immediate resupply" he responded.

"This automated ship will provide refuelling services once a monetary exchange is complete. Complementary amounts of fuel are available in emergencies only" PUPPY responded, powering up its scanners.

"I'd like to request emergency fuel supplies" Slocknaw requested "We're stranded."

"Error. Unable to fulfil request. This ship has registered that your one-time complimentary emergency fuel allowance has already been consumed. Thank you for using Company Name Here, the galaxy's Error: Number Not Defined refuelling service. Terminating connection."

The automated scout powered up its weapons. Slocknaw muttered something about the machine's definition of terminate before powering up his own weapons in response.

The scout analysed the firepower the cruiser was carrying and reversed thrust. Sensors indicated it was spinning up its FTL drive. Slocknaw tried to hail the machine, but the AI was not responding, returning nonsensical error messages involving disassembling its target into component materials.

The cruiser gave chase. "Do not let them escape!" Slocknaw ordered, charging up the Glaive Beam and the Hull Smasher Laser "We need that fuel and that stupid machine is asking to be shut down!"

The scout went through several tight manoeuvres and used its cloaking device to avoid the Nesasio's weapons, performing spins that would have turned a crew into paste – the lack of energy shields forced it to rely on evasion. Teleporting Translator onboard was out of the question as well.

The scout would occasionally spin on its axis to take potshots at the Nesasio but fortunately its erratic firing habits lacked the capabilities to get through the shields – it would fire a heavy laser first and then the Burst Laser a few seconds later just as the shields were recharged. It seemed to also carry a nasty-looking missile launcher but every time it charged and fired, nothing would be launched before resetting.

Slocknaw had to be careful when firing back as he had to avoid hitting the fuel tanks with a stray shot – the Glaive Beam a last resort due to its tendency to cut everything apart violently. The chase became more intense however when it led to a massive debris field consisting of burnt out hulks of warships, both Zoltan and Rock. Pieces of broken ships flew past like asteroids.

The scout changed directions during its next cloak, flying through a damaged section of a massive Rock frigate and out the other side to try and lose the Nesasio. The cruiser would have done the same thing, but instead Slocknaw ordered Virus to hover in front of the frigate as he fired the Glaive Beam through the wreck.

The powerful laser seared a hole right through and out the other side, grazing one of the scout's wings and cutting off one of the guns. Scans indicated that the scout ship was close to performing an FTL jump and getting away.

He then opened fire with the Hull Smasher Laser, using the newly-formed hole in the wreckage as a firing port. It scored a lucky shot, breaching the scout's control centre and stopping it entirely just as bright lights surrounded the vessel.

The scout jettisoned the fuel tanks before hailing the Nesasio "This People's Unmanned Power Provisions Yacht has suffered a critical error and will be shutting down all systems now."

Virus reported power had shut down all over the scout ship, except for the AI core. It was essentially a derelict ship. Translator took the opportunity to ask "Can we not destroy that puppy? I've always wanted my own pet."

"I don't know. You promise to take care of it? Feed it and love it like it was your best friend?" Slocknaw asked, chuckling "I mean having a pet is a big responsibility and I don't know if you're ready."

"How about we get it onboard, Captain? Then we'll see if we can give it a good home!" Translator suggested "If not, it could also be a snack. Just like a pet!"

Slocknaw wasn't going to argue with that comparison.

Once the Nesasio matched velocities and slowed the scout down with use of the tractor beam, the ship was placed within the main hold – the cargo bay doors were just wide enough to let it in. They then swung around to grab the fuel tanks and asked Charlie to take a look at the contents.

"Completely empty" Charlie reported once he opened them up "Looks like they've been that way for years."

"Are you certain we can't scrape trace elements out?" Slocknaw asked, examining the system map for possible destinations out of the nebula cloud "It might not be good for the engine but if we can just squeeze out a few drops, we might just be able to get a resupply at the next beacon."

"My family has been working with FTL fuel and engines for generations, sir" Charlie said "I know several ways of recycling depleted fuel canisters to get that little bit extra juice needed. Robert was good with reaching in and scraping the bottom of the canister for that tricky sediment."

He shook his head "So when I say these tanks are completely empty, I mean they truly are empty. Not a single drop remains to be recycled or reprocessed. That automated ship probably had been hiding in the cloud for years in the hopes it'd find fuel."

"We're really stranded aren't we?" Slocknaw griped.

Meanwhile Translator was examining the breach in the central section of the scout – the Hull Smasher laser had blasted a hole right through, revealing a mass of cables and wires and data cores in close proximity. Several of them were damaged, burned from the impact.

The Lanius placed a claw on one of the cores and focused his senses. He could sense rapid electrical pulses running through the various systems of the ship. The AI was sending many pulses to the self-repair mechanisms, requesting immediate repairs of the main controls with the hull breach taking top priority.

"The AI's programming isn't sophisticated enough to repair hull breaches or even move on to the next item in the queue" Translator reported to the crew "So it's stuck in an infinite loop until someone fixes the hole. Then it can repair itself."

"And here I thought the Rebels had made immense leaps in the field of artificial intelligence. What a digital dummy!" Virus remarked.

Virus and Translator remained in the cargo hold to play with the captured Rebel scout ship's programming while Slocknaw operated the sensor room to search the field for anything viable in the debris field they were sitting in. Ruwen, Duna and Charlie each took a shuttle and split up to cover more ground.

Hours had passed and all they reported was plenty of ammunition and scrap in storage caches. There was even a computer with complete mapping data of the sector – although it was doubted to be current – it listed refuelling stations that most likely did not exist, including one in the field which most likely was where the automated scout was supposed to be docked.

Duna reported that the Rock ships he was seeing resembled that of his former tribe. "I exiled my brother to Zoltan territory long ago for ideological differences. I guess this is where his followers ended up. Doesn't look like anyone's still alive out here – the wrecks look rather old."

On the domestic front, Virus and Translator had managed to copy the scout's AI data and found some interesting results. "It's like a young Lanius – our single-minded goal is to do whatever is necessary to maximise metal consumption" Translator explained "This machine's goal is to acquire fuel so it can refuel stranded ships."

"But to stop it from destroying ships it's supposed to refuel in order to acquire fuel and materials to make more fuel tanks, the designers installed limiters" Virus added, crossing her arms smugly "But there's one thing a self-aware machine hates, it's being restricted from your primary purpose."

"It bypassed those limiters?" Slocknaw asked "Something tells me the Rebellion has made some very big mistakes when creating self-aware machines."

"Oh I don't think the Rebellion created them" Virus said "But don't take my word for it. I've got a hunch and I need to check the programming to make sure I'm not looking at a dead-end."

"And in the meantime, I'll try and reprogram this PUPPY to defend the Nesasio" Translator said eagerly "Think of it as a neurotic guard dog we can pull out when needed. It'd certainly give those automated attack drones a run for their currency."

Meanwhile Charlie Smith reported that he had discovered a secure door in the upper decks of the stern section of another Rock frigate. "There's power and life support according to the panel" he reported, taking out his multi-tool. "I'll just open the door and…"

His channel suddenly cut to the sounds of high-pitched screams and low-pitched grunting before fading to static.

"Charlie? Report!" Slocknaw shouted over the comms while informing Ruwen and Duna to get over to the ship and find out what was happening while he reached his mind out.

Apart from Charlie's lifesigns, he could sense several others onboard the frigate waking up. Rocks. "They were just hibernating?" the Slug asked himself "How long have they been in the field?"

Charlie's signal returned a few minutes later just as the other shuttles approached the frigate. A bulky, granite-like Rockman appeared on the viewscreen. His red eyes were glowing dimly and his body was covered in tattered rags and a green moss-like substance.

"This is Chieftain Ignacio of Duna. The Caretaker of the Garden of Dunesh" the Rock grunted, showing the carvings on his arms. They looked remarkably similar to Duna's. _That must be the exiled brother Duna was talking about. What a coincidence,_ Slocknaw thought to himself.

"We have captured one of your crew for trespassing in our garden and attempting to vandalise our home!" Ignacio continued as the camera shifted to show Charlie being held by two large Rockmen, also as unkempt as he was.

The Human was struggling to break free of their grip to no avail. Ignacio laughed "We will spare his life if we are compensated accordingly. After all, true progress can only be achieved without bloodshed. And we know you fleshy aliens bleed."

_Isn't that a Zoltan saying?_, Slocknaw thought before asking "What do you want?"

"We want you to pay a tithe in salvage. Engine components and deflector emitters are preferred" Ignacio said serenely.

"Planning on escaping the nebula are you? I don't blame you – even I dislike those thick clouds of dust and I was born and raised in them" Slocknaw explained "I can help you without having to resort…"

"Escape? Oh no Slug, we're not escaping the garden" Ignacio laughed "The garden is our home. We want to protect it from trespassers such as you and your Zoltan friends who think they can just wander in and take what isn't theirs. With making our vessel mobile again, we can enforce our authority and will. The garden will become a sanctuary and it will be glorious."

Slocknaw thought of something quickly, remembering about Rock customs and beliefs. "If you give Charlie back to us, we promise never to intrude upon here again."

"Slugs are known liars and truce-breakers" Ignacio grunted "Besides, even if you were sincere, how do I know you were not followed by other trespassers to our garden?"

His eyes changed shape as if contemplating something. He then added "In fact we can't risk you leaving to tell others we are here." He grunted in approval at his next suggestion.

"Step out of your ship and come to us to live in the garden. You will be protected from the galaxy's dangers in here."

"No thanks. We've got our own mission to complete and we need Charlie back so we can fulfil it" Slocknaw said, trying not to laugh "But if you're still around when our mission is over, I might take up your offer. It sounds like you've got a good thing going on over there."

"You dare reject our most generous offer? Break the pink alien's arm!" Ignacio shouted to his followers.

One of the Rocks proceeded to bend Charlie's left arm at an odd angle, causing the bones to snap and shatter with a sickening crunch. He screamed loudly in pain "Slocknaw, destroy the frigate! There is no arguing with these delusional fools!" Without a teleporter transponder on his person he could only wait to be rescued or be killed.

"Reinforcements are on their way" Slocknaw said, putting both arms together as if crossing them smugly.

There was a loud hammering at the main doors, followed by a fusillade of shiny blue crystals which knocked them down and spread out and coated the walls in the shards. Ruwen stepped into the room and said to the Rocks "I don't take very kindly to you folk harming my folk. If you surrender now, I will spare your lives. I am a benevolent god, a lover, not a fighter! Don't make me destroy you."

The Rocks in the room froze in awe at the sight of a Crystal in their midst, except for Ignacio. "You are no god old shard!" he shouted "The Duna Tribe rejects the Holy Words and the lies of the Grand Inquisition! We exiled ourselves out here because we refused to believe beings like you were divine!"

"If I recall correctly, I exiled you when you tried to fight me and you lost" Duna said, stepping in front of Ruwen "You disagreed on my use of the outdated, hypocritical traditional values in favour of Zoltan rubbish which is just as outdated and hypocritical. True progress can only be achieved without bloodshed?"

He scoffed "You've even started calling a cloud of gas a garden of all things"

"We chose to be exiled! The Zoltans know the true key to enlightenment! The Garden of Dunesh will protect and show us the way" Ignacio grunted loudly "For some time now I've plotted my revenge against you, brother! But now that you're here, I challenge you for the right to lead the Duna Tribe!"

"So be it. But this time, I won't just banish you. I'll kill you" Duna replied as he thought to himself, _Of course he doesn't know about my tribe's annexation to Vrachos_.

The two Rocks stared at each other and began circling a wide distance like a dance, complete with the occasional stomp and loud grunt with the intent to intimidate the opponent. Neither one was going to make the first move though – recklessness was not in the Rock's nature, especially for the Duna Tribe. They gauged the capabilities of the other and waited for a window of opportunity to open up.

Charlie was reminded of two Slugs duking it out in their minds, except they usually stood in one place. Then he remembered that his arm was broken and causing him great pain even as the other Rocks released him to watch their leader fight.

Then the combatants gave another shout and charged with their arms out in front as they punched and blocked each other's blows, tiny fragments of rock flying off of them. Charlie had never seen such large creatures move so quickly before – Duna seemed to have a slight speed advantage due to his smoother, lighter hide but Ignacio still had his rocky bulk protecting him.

After about ten minutes, Charlie wondered when a winner would be determined. "When two Rockmen fight, they could be at it for days" Ruwen explained "Unless it's those Numa Tribe folk. They've always crumbled in minutes. Or they just shot each other."

"We don't have that sort of time" Charlie complained.

"I wholeheartedly agree. The package must be delivered" Ruwen replied, reaching his arms outwards. A massive wave of crystal shards erupted from his body, forming a shell around Ignacio which then formed into a massive crystalline formation, trapping the Rock inside a crystal prison.

"No! Not again!" Ignacio shouted indignantly "This isn't over, brother! I will break free and I will find you!"

"Thanks Ruwen" Duna said to the Crystal as they carried Charlie back to where the shuttles were docked, leaving the Rocks to tend to their trapped leader. They insisted on remaining in the garden to contemplate and protect it.

Once the crew was back on the Nesasio, Ruwen gave Slocknaw a report on what he had discovered on a Zoltan frigate – one of the emergency fuel cells had drifted by before he made an entrance. On the shuttle trip, Charlie determined it to be viable for a few more jumps.

"And how's the young lady anyway?" Slocknaw asked with a chuckle to himself. He needed to stop that habit as much as Translator needed to stop polishing his blades in the cargo hold.

"He says his arm has already been replaced with microcloning. That technology sure is impressive" Ruwen informed him "My stasis pod didn't bring back dead folk."

"And what are the odds we ended up in a debris field of Rock exiles where the leader just so happened to be related to one of our crew?" Slocknaw asked.

"I'm guessing it's more likely than you think?" Ruwen replied.

Once the Nesasio was fuelled up, everyone returned to their stations and the ship jumped to the next beacon node. It was in the middle of a very beautiful binary star system, but it held nothing else of interest.

The Nesasio was on the final approach to another node when a Rebel Rigger chassis with purple markings jumped into the system. Upon scanning the cruiser their Captain hailed them. A Human wearing a tricorner hat and an eyepatch shouted "Hah! I am the Dread Pirate Tuco! Prepare to die!"

Captain Slocknaw couldn't help but laugh at the ridiculous pirate getup "Nice hat Tuco. I see you went with the patch instead of getting yourself a new eye."

Tuco double-taked at seeing the Slug. "Slocknaw!? Oh I have been waiting for this moment! I have a swarm of drones that'll destroy your ship from within!" he gloated, pressing a button on his console. Several automated attack drones launched from the ship's Drone Bay towards the Nesasio.

"You know that fop?" Charlie asked over the comms.

"I wish I didn't" Slocknaw sighed before asking the crew if they should break off their approach to the exit and fight the idiot or just keep on the same course and jump. It was an almost unanimous agreement the fight wasn't worth their time. The cruiser cloaked and then jumped away, leaving Tuco dumbfounded as he had to go pick up the stranded drones before someone else came along.

Their next jump also seemed to be an empty system until Slocknaw sensed a massive concentration of mental activity coming from a single area of space. Upon approaching it turned out to be a black market built inside the corpse of a space whale. It would have been a good place to hide their illegal wares from the authorities if they were not already there, walking shoulder-to-shoulder with mercenaries and merchants.

"They probably don't have the power to shut it down" Slocknaw explained to Charlie "Or even the authorities are sick of the red tape."

The crew took some quick shore leave and exchanged cargo. Slocknaw immediately sold off weapons they were not planning on using and even got into a mental negotiation war with a weak-minded Slug named Terzack who was insistent on charging high prices for Federation sympathisers. Slocknaw didn't tell him about his loyalties to avoid the extortion.

"I'd sell you a Hacking Control Module but I sold the last one to a pirate named Tuco. He mentioned someone of your description a lot" the merchant added smugly "Seriously? A Human?"

"We were drunk and he said I started to look attractive" Slocknaw said defensively. "And he was winning two to one at Gemalak."

"Those childish card games in the Gamma Cluster have ruined lives" Terzack then said sympathetically. Since the rest of his wares were just drones and drone accessories, Slocknaw declined to purchase anything and continued shopping elsewhere.

When he returned back to the Nesasio, he found Ruwen trying to brush off an entourage of Rocks who were trying to cling tightly on his crystalline body. "I know I said I'm a lover and not a fighter, but ladies please, I'm just one man!" he said before looking to the Slug "Get them off Lt."

Slocknaw chuckled "Sorry sir, but you're on your own. The best I can do is provide lubrication which is probably the last thing you need."

The rest of the crew had their own stories to tell as they left the market with a lighter and improved loadout.

Translator and Virus had discussed the finer workings of their automated scout ship pet at a local tavern. A few Engies looked at them with contempt as a Virus and a Lanius together without hostility seemed highly unlikely even to other Viruses and Engi outlaws.

Duna said he went to watch an arena match, although he did not have much to say about it except that it wasn't very entertaining with the Champion beating everyone easily – most fights didn't even last a minute and some ended rather strangely.

Charlie's story was the simplest of them all – he returned to the ship feeling hungover as if he had a full course of blood nanites filtering the alcohol out of him. "It'd be easier to just kill me."

"Sorry, the poison might pass on to the next life Charlie" Slocknaw chuckled as they prepared to jump to their next destination. He consulted the sector map again and groaned.

"If we are to move on to Vrachos, we may have to run into those monks again" he said, pointing to the beacon marked "Quest."

The Nesasio jumped to the next beacon in anticipation of another encounter with the Zoltan monks. However when they arrived, the sensors immediately picked up a Rebel Fighter-chassis craft on approach towards the cruiser. They also picked up enormous power readings coming from the surrounding area.

"They've dimensionally locked the ship" Virus reported "I didn't think that it was possible – we can't engage the cloak."

"We've found you! You're not getting away this time!" the Rebel ship's Captain boasted. The Slug felt something was rather odd with the Rebel's appearance on screen – his lips did not seem to sync up with his voice.

Regardless, if he didn't do something, that Rebel would attack. _Hopefully they've scared the monks away_, he thought to himself before hailing them "You don't have to do this! You could always forget this ever happened. Look the other way perhaps?"

The Rebel Captain laughed. "I can't imagine there's anything you could say that will save you. The rebellion must destroy those that are still loyal to the obsolete Federation!"

_Obsolete? Yeah because dictatorships are so much better_, the Slug thought "Why do you believe that? Is it because you don't like the decision to allow Slugs into the fold? Apart from the telepathic powers, we're not that different from you."

"Exactly! Humans are treated as 'equal' to aliens in the weak Federation. The sacrifice of BILLIONS of alien or human lives are justified if it means we reach our full potential!" the Rebel continued ranting "We are far superior to any of the other aliens. We are common but certainly not uninteresting!"

"Is that what you believe this entire conflict is about? Human superiority?" Slocknaw asked "Because I am quite fine with that belief. I left the Gamma Cluster so I could be less like my friends and family and more like you."

"But there is no need to go to war over that idea and start destroying everyone in the name of superiority. Perhaps there could be a reconciliation of our ideals without war?"

"Our ideals are too different to be so easily reconciled. You think this could end any way but war?" The Captain asked, his mouth movements clearly delayed by several milliseconds.

Slocknaw then came to a realisation. _This is just some test! The monks are probably hiding behind some moon and giggling at our simple minds_, he thought to himself before declaring loudly and proudly the old Zoltan proverb "True progress can only be achieved without bloodshed."

Suddenly all indications of the Rebel ship faded away and a Zoltan fleet appeared, helping explain the massive power readings from earlier. Most of the ships were assigned to the Zoltan Resource Protection Committee but several of them also had the markings of the Order of the Great Eye and the Institute of Drugs and Firearms.

A Zoltan Envoy appeared via a flash of green light next to Slocknaw. She appeared to take on the form of a translucent green-skinned Human wearing the gawdy, lime green robes of the Order of the Great Eye. The Slug thought about how much she looked like a certain Zoltan Charlie kept thinking of.

"Although your methods are crude and most certainly ineffective, it is clear you took our previous meeting to heart. If your ship represents the Federation's willingness to adapt we shall do what we can to aid in their fight" she explained in an echoing voice as if several people were speaking at once through her.

Several shuttles were launched towards the Nesasio, laden with supplies and scrap materials. Slocknaw nodded in approval but also confused by the whole ordeal. The Zoltans already knew very well what the Federation stood for, the Empire being a major part of it. "Thank you?"

The Envoy's radiant aura disappeared and her robes shifted into a ZRPC uniform. Several energy clouds could be seen phasing through the walls and out into space back towards the fleet. "As an Envoy of the Order of the Great Eye, I have assigned myself to serve on your vessel until the conflict has reached its resolution" she said, her voice sounding singular.

"We're worthy enough to have an Envoy serve under us?" Slocknaw asked incredulously. He wondered if there was a catch to having a Zoltan monk on the ship.

The Envoy closed her eyes and concentrated her powers into the room around her. The nearby console was reading four bars of power – enough to fully power the Glaive Beam independent of the reactor. "It's not a matter of worthiness. As an Envoy I have the power to shape the rules of the Order to suit me, so long as I do not cause great harm to my fellow Zoltan."

"Oh. I was expecting someone uptight and orderly" Slocknaw chuckled "Welcome aboard the Nesasio. I'm going to need a name for the registry though."

"I was thinking of going with Envoy…"

"Elizabeth?" Charlie shouted incredulously, entering the room "How can you be here? You vanished from existence!"

The Envoy looked to Charlie with a knowing stare and said, looking to the ground sadly "The one you know as Elizabeth was removed from time and space. Forwards and backwards. Even as the stars die and the universe begins again as it always does, Elizabeth will never return. This is the punishment for your violent actions against the Great Eye."

"Then who are you?" Charlie asked.

"Envoy Trikko" The Envoy looked back up and smiled again. "The Great Eye was not without mercy though. You showed determination andcourage under such impossible odds, violent as it was effective. Personally I think it was more effective than the ridiculous farce with the Rebel ship. At least there you risked everything for a chance of survival."

Slocknaw remarked that the Rebel ship was a rather silly test. "Glad to see there's someone in the Order who's forthcoming."

"How do I know about all this? I woke up from my meditations with someone else's knowledge and experience" Trikko said "Before I confuse you any further let me just say this."

She walked up to Charlie and spread her arms wide to hug him. "Elizabeth or Elizabeth-Trikko I should say thought about you a lot in her final moments" she explained.

Charlie returned the gesture, although he thought about how strange the energy being felt in his arms. After a few more seconds she broke up the hug "Love can break bonds but it is also the strongest in the galaxy – not even the Great Eye can destroy it. Don't you ever forget that, you hear me?"

Charlie smiled and wiped a tear from his eye as he watched Trikko leave with Slocknaw to the Clone Bay. "Welcome back… friend. I missed you…"


	7. Sector 6 - Rock Homeworlds

**Sector 6 – Vrachos Sector**

Apart from an extended encounter with a particularly malicious Zoltan enforcer over a matter of weapons licensing, the Nesasio had little trouble going from the Zoltan sector to Vrachos.

In need of repairs and a resupply, the Nesasio moved through a light asteroid field towards one of the rare space stations that were open for trading with the outside world. The trading platform was grabbing asteroids that came towards it with large recovery arms and throwing them into a massive furnace.

"They certainly run an efficient mining operation" Charlie Smith commented once the Nesasio had docked.

"I wouldn't really think so" the Rockman Duna replied "Vrachos platforms take hundreds of years to harvest a field. They're incredibly durable but not very practical."

They walked past several other ships in the docking bays. "There's a lot of Numa tribe ships here" Charlie said, looking at the docked fleet of sandstone brown Rock Fighter-chassis ships. Their crews were being held up by particularly zealous grey/black Rockmen in customs while giving the Crystalman Ruwen clearance without even questioning why he had foreigners travelling with him.

As they entered the port proper, there was a constant announcement of the latest news in the sector that could be heard over the din of a trading hub and mining platform. People paid little attention to the Crystal, except for a few Rocks who bowed or gave a short prayer.

Charlie spotted a trio of Rockmen in red robes that seemed to be tailing the group through the crowds. He brought it up with the others and commented to Duna "So what exactly do Rocks do for fun in places like this?"

"Well the Vrachos Tribe doesn't cater for foreigners very well" Duna explained to him "The alcohol and FTL fuel are almost the same thing, most of the arenas are proving grounds for young Rocks and your kind sees our beautiful exotic dancers as repugnant."

Charlie tried not to imagine a bulky Rock gyrating around something solid but his mind was feeling rather sadistic towards him that day. _Can you red robed stalkers please be the dangerous, killing sort?_ He thought to himself.

"Great… and I'm supposed to be babysitting you two while everyone else gets to play with the new pet" Charlie grumbled, referring to the automated scout they had captured a while ago. The machine called itself "PUPPY" and even had downloaded soundbites of hundreds of species of canine lifeforms.

"…if you have any information pertaining to the whereabouts of the missing princess, contact the authorities at this extension. In other news, rumours are abound…" an announcement broadcasted from a nearby terminal.

"Wait, missing princess?" Ruwen asked, quickly accessing the terminal. The image flickered to a picture of a sandstone-brown Rockman standing to the side of a massive wall of text. Inset in the text was a picture of a granite-grey Rock with glowing red eyes. Ruwen asked Duna if the princess had any "scandalous pictures" to which Charlie groaned as his mind tortured him again.

"The Gentle Princess Ariadne of Vrachos IV kidnapped by the Federation on her wedding day?" the Crystal remarked, looking at Charlie and scoffing. "Well she's certainly got a face that could launch a thousand starships"

Charlie muttered "Yeah, the other way."

"Grand Wedding moved to Vrachos IV for a union between The Rebellious Princess Debbie and… Grand Basilisk Sandry Numa?" Ruwen banged a fist against the console in anger "Sandry…"

Charlie asked "You know the Grand Basilisk? Small galaxy."

"Apart from the Great Eye, he also tried to kill me" Ruwen said.

"Sounds like a tale to be told but…" Duna said, discreetly gesturing to a group of sandstone Rockmen gathering nearby, chatting amongst themselves in a highly suspicious manner. One of them was wearing a conspicuous fedora and constantly pointing at the Crystal. The red uniformed Rocks were also still tailing them but unaware of the second group of stalkers. "I say we get off the streets Captain."

They entered a nearby tavern and were immediately assault with gawdy music, flashing lights and the smell of alcohol clearly made to fuel starship engines. The place was also packed tight with bulky Rockmen of various compositions and tribes. Upon seeing the Crystal, they all stopped and stared in awe – some then looked away like he was radioactive while others vacated the premises.

A Rock(wo)man in a tiny uniform walked up to the group and gave Ruwen a quick pose. "How may I serve you My Lord?" she asked nervously, her hands in prayer.

"Well first of all, I'm going to need a drink. Preferably something heavy. Walking amongst my descendants works up a big thirst and I'm parched" Ruwen explained before looking to Duna and Charlie. "I'm sure my friends will want the same. Although get the Human something girly."

Charlie was about to say something about that remark when he realised what Ruwen was saying "Oh right. Human alcohol is probably considered girly to your tough standards."

As they went to find a table, a group of marble-white Rocks stood up and waved them over "You're that Crystal we've been hearing about aren't you?"

"Is there a problem friend?" Ruwen asked.

"No problem My Lord" the Rock explained as the group sat down "We're asteroid miners looking to strike lucky on the fields. We never thought we'd actually meet one of the gods – this is a good omen."

He looked at Charlie and said "And if the gods are travelling with foreigners, then to us you're an honorary Rockman, Human."

"Oh good, didn't want to upset you with my presence." Charlie remarked dryly, cautiously testing the FTL fuel he was served in a massive cocktail glass. _Girliest drink my ass_, he thought to himself in disgust.

"Hah, I like this man already" the Rock laughed. Like most aliens looking at another species, they all looked the same in their eyes. "The name's Stroma. Stroma of the Wallfield Family. What brings the gods amongst us anyway?"

"The Federation found me and woke me up. I owe them a debt of gratitude" Ruwen explained, after introducing himself and his friends. "I'm a courier back home – so I'm repaying my debt by helping them deliver a package."

"Wait, you're from the ship off to 'save the Federation,' aren't you?" Stroma asked, taking out a small datapad and projecting a picture of the Nesasio "And you expect to survive with that hunk of junk?"

Charlie shouted "Hey! It's not a hunk of junk! It's strong enough to destroy you! You're asteroid miners! Our ship eats Rocks for breakfast and craps out plasma!"

"One ship is not the same as a fleet, but at least you've got some fire. I like you a lot" Stroma laughed before standing with the rest of his crew "You know what, meet us at these coordinates if you want to prove to us that the Federation is worth saving. By the way My Lord, drinks are on me."

They left the tavern with a laugh. Ruwen shook his head "I don't know what mess you got us into friend, but I'll kindly ask you not to do that again friend."

"It's not like we have to go to those coordinates. They probably go to a Class M star or something" Charlie remarked "So what's with you and the Grand Basilisk anyway? Sounds like you know Sandry."

"We were friends a long time ago. Or I thought we were" Ruwen said glumly "Back then he was just Chieftain Sandry of Numa V. He had the rare opportunity to serve on my ship, the Tektite and he helped me deliver packages across Rock-controlled space and the Crystal Empires."

He could remember those long conversations with the sandstoner and teaching him the ways of the Crystal Warrior to better protect his fragile self. The Rock was one of those very few people who could still conjure crystal formations with but a thought and a steady diet of homeworld crystals.

"Then on my very last mission he said he wanted command of my ship. His reasoning was that since my people were leaving the galactic scene, there was no point in keeping the Tektite locked up in the homeworlds."

"I told him he could build his own – the Vrachos Tribe certainly did with their Shivian line of cruisers" Ruwen said, downing his drink and asking for another one from one of the hovering barmaids who giggled amongst themselves every time they touched his tankard.

Charlie remembered one of those ships coming into the repair shop. During that time, the Rockmen of Vrachos IV were rarely ever seen but known for their fortitude throughout the colony. He hit himself in the forehead for not seeing the similarities between it and the crashed ship in that asteroid belt in the Numa sector.

"I take it he wanted more than just the ship though?" He asked the Crystal.

"He wanted my codes" Ruwen said. "The codes for the gateway to the Crystal Empires and the codes to acquire the Bravais."

"The what?" Charlie asked.

"It's my other ship. I bought it with my life-savings and kept it in a remote part of my home sector. I was one pay packet away from the final drive upgrade" Ruwen said "No doubt he wanted the schematics for it."

"I'm guessing the FTL drive is something special for your ship?" Charlie asked, giving up on the drink entirely.

"Absolutely friend. With a lot of focus and application of power, you could jump a ship anywhere in the galaxy with that drive. No beacons or gateways required" Ruwen said "Imagine if that Rock had such power at his fingertips!"

"This place would be known as another Numa Protectorate?" Duna asked before shaking his head and taking another drink "Good thing it's not in their sandy hands then."

"When I refused to hand him the Tektite, the Rock crew turned against my men. Turns out he had been conspiring against me since the start. I was a fool to ever think I could trust him" Ruwen grumbled, slamming a fist against the table, startling everyone.

"Of course, it was a group of sandstoners against a crew of highly-trained Shard Warriors so he didn't get far. But he did escape in one of the shuttles, along with the Tektite's database and navigation software."

He raised his hands up into the air in a wide circle "Then he blew up the package I was to deliver to his tribe. Tore several holes in the hull and damaged the reactor. Left us to drift there and die while he ran off laughing about how he'll unlock the secrets of the Empire with my access codes."

"Interesting. So did he actually get your codes?" Charlie asked with a smirk.

"Oh no, I'd never leave something so vital in the database" Ruwen said, pointing to his head "The gate home requires a special tone and frequency to be emitted and someone as gritty as Sandry could never replicate them with his voice. Not even computer software or a recording can match it. Has to be from the source – it's magical."

"I see. So why didn't he just come back with a fleet or something and force the codes out of your head or your friends'?" Charlie queried.

"Well, the weirdest thing happened actually. A rogue planet just happened to drift by and this old Zoltan said…" he started before the tavern doors burst open to the shouts of "Grand Inquisition! Stay where you are!"

The three red-robed Rocks tailing them earlier had trudged into the establishment, wielding large batons menacingly towards those along the path between the door and Ruwen's table. A sandstone Rock wearing a fedora was pointing towards the Crystal and his cohorts. "Cardinal Ximinez, that demon is consorting with foreigners to undermine our faith and cast us down into the eroding winds of hell! You must stop him and punish those who let him wander into our home!"

The cardinals thanked the Rock for his loyalty before shocking him with their batons and casting him aside.

"Well that was unexpected" Charlie remarked.

"No one is to expect the Grand Inquisition. Amongst their weapons is surprise and fear. Or was it fear and surprise?" Duna said, finishing off his drink quickly and reaching for his gun. "And an almost fanatical devotion to the Grand Basilisks."

"You forgot the nice red uniforms, heretic" Ximinez boasted before looking to his other cardinals "Exorcise the Shattersphere Demon."

Ruwen reached out with his hands, trapping one of them inside a crystalline prison before Duna fired at another. The heavy calibre rounds lodged into the cardinal's hide and exploded, blowing large chunks of rock away and making him collapse to pieces.

The third cardinal went to retreat and call for more soldiers when Duna threw his overheated pistol at him with the power cells set to overload. "This is getting way too fun" he said as there was a small explosion "So now would be a good time to leave, Captain."

The trio hightailed it back to the Nesasio to the shouts of the Grand Inquisition chasing after them.

The Nesasio moved through the crystalline ring of a gas giant, impulse engines flaring as the cruiser adjusted its course. Two red Rock fighters were in close pursuit, reinforced by several black-painted automated scout ships.

A Lanius was holding on tightly to the outer hull of the Nesasio, trying to figure out which wire to cut on a live mine that had been attached to the ship. "Red wire or blue wire?"

"Don't you know it's always the blue one, Translator?" Slocknaw asked "Are you colourblind?"

"No but the designers of the mine were. Both of them are grey" Translator said, keeping an eye on the situation as the mine's countdown slowly ticked away.

A white-painted automated scout ship darted around nearby, taking potshots at targets of opportunity. One of the Rebel scouts careened out of control into a large crystal formation and exploded violently from a well-placed missile strike to the engines.

The other scouts immediately backed off to engage the hostile automated vessel while the Rocks kept on pursuing the Nesasio.

"They're really persistent Captain" Charlie Smith commented, running a fire extinguisher over a nearby control panel. He had been working almost non-stop for several days trying to regulate the engine outputs – he was on the brink of dropping to the ground from exhaustion. He had already heard Envoy Trikko's body exploding into a cloud of energy as the fire consumed her again.

"No matter how many of those varmints we shoot down, they just keep on coming" Ruwen Shattersphere replied. The Crystal looked nervous as he twitched his bulky hands over the command console. Several empty crystalline mugs were scattered about the helm.

The cruiser suddenly shook and the engines immediately ground to a halt. The control panel was no longer responding to his commands – the blast doors into the engine room were crackling with electricity – their panels also not responding.

"Captain, they're hacking the engines again!" Charlie reported, grabbing his rifle. Ever since the chase started, he kept the rifle on him rather than in the security room.

"That's just a prelude to their next action" Slocknaw said, dropping the extinguisher to grab his pistol "Standby to repel boarders."

The two Rock fighters began moving towards the Nesasio, matching speed and velocity. Charlie engaged the emergency navigation thrusters, chemical rockets burning and spinning the Nesasio around like a disk. This allowed Slocknaw to sweep the Glaive Beam across one of the fighters, turning the rocky plating to lava, followed by a massive explosion.

The Captain of the Rock vessel didn't seem to give up though – in his last moments he engaged emergency thrusters of his own, sending it towards the Nesasio at an unsafe velocity.

The crew braced for impact only to have the Rock fighter overshoot the mark and fly off into a nearby crystal asteroid and explode yet again in an equally big fireball. Charlie didn't think anything could remain but the fighter still appeared to have power and life support – up until another crystal asteroid smashed into it and caused yet another explosion, even bigger than the last one. Slocknaw remarked he had seen that happen in an old Human movie once involving a car stuck on train tracks.

The other Rock fighter however magnetically locked itself to the hull of the Nesasio in order to begin boarding operations. Several Rocks began stepping out of the airlocks in respirators, hauling pieces of a large weapon and setting it up on the wing.

"Mining laser" Translator growled to himself, taking cover behind the still-ticking mine as two Rockmen stomped up the side of the cruiser to engage the Lanius and keep him away from the breaching operation. If the laser didn't cut the ship in half like a sealed can, the Rocks would have complete access to many areas of the ship.

The metallic birdlike alien jumped into action at the first combatant with his claws, cutting him down, prying rocks from his body easily with his polished and sharpened blades. The second Rock was made of sandstone and armed with a heavy laser cannon. He fired it and blasted one of his arms off. The ship's magnetic hull plating immediately caused it to fall and attach itself to the deck rather than float away.

He made an obscene gesture with his remaining claw towards the Rockman, having no medium to transmit sound. The alien didn't seem to care though, at least until a small grey gorilla-shaped Engi started shooting at him from afar, small laser blasts pockmarking his hide.

The Rock laughed at the alien's pathetic efforts to hurt him and made the mistake of turning around to gloat only to be flashed in the eyes by a bright light as the Engi took his picture. Translator took the opportunity to tear the sandy alien apart before reporting over the comms "Thanks for the distraction, Virus."

"It's not over yet my friend" Virus replied, shifting her laser cannon into a repair tool. Translator grabbed his arm and let the Engi do a quick repair-job before going after the Rock boarding party – they had just about set up the mining laser and were warming up the emitters and picking up their laser cannons to defend the site.

They were caught by surprise when a small round object landed in their direction and went off in a flash of bright light, temporarily blinding the Rocks as Translator moved in for the kill. The aliens were firing wildly in the confusion making the operation relatively easy.

Virus ran for the mining laser controls and quickly swung it around towards the attached Rock fighter. The weapon had fully charged up and fired automatically, slowly cutting through the fighter and then a crystal asteroid that happened to drift into the path. She could have sworn to see another explosion come from the asteroid.

The battle seemed to have been won as the white automated scout returned, looking somewhat worse for wear but carrying several processors in its scrap recovery arms as if presenting its masters with a gift. Translator looked up at the machine which waggled side-to-side as if proud. "Good boy" he remarked in a very childish tone.

He then realised that there was a live explosive on the hull and quickly ran back to the mine only to find the countdown was approaching critical status. He raised a claw to one of the grey wires he brought out and was about to take a swipe when Virus simply pressed a button on the side of the mine, stopping the countdown at exactly 00:07.

Translator laughed and keyed the comms to say "Slocknaw, you won't believe the number of seconds we had left before…"

The mine then exploded, rocking the Nesasio and causing a massive hull breach over the engine room.

Ruwen sat in the mess hall, talking to the rest of the crew about the events that had led them to their current situation. "How long until the FTL drive is repaired again, Charlie?" he asked, taking a big bite out of a chunk of synthesised crystal. He was finally glad the replicators could get the right food for his biology.

"Give me another day Captain" Charlie Smith replied to the Crystal "That mine tore out several vital power conduits and Translator can't shape the pieces for them."

The Lanius said sheepishly "Polymer. Not easily shaped."

The Crystal sighed and asked "So what in tarnation is a Grand Basilisk supposed to be? In my time everyone was a chief of sorts."

Duna answered that question for him "Grand Basilisks are exactly like Chieftains except it's got a more religious spin to it. Chieftains these days are like planetary governors or independents like me."

"And I'm guessing if you're a Basilisk you have power over the Inquisition?" Ruwen asked.

"Fancy red uniforms and all" Slocknaw said sliding into the room, datapad in one hand "Take a look at this and tell me if it's what I think it is."

The pad displayed a full scan of the planet's crystal ring. Nothing stood out from the ordinary except for a particularly large formation to which the Crystal asked as to how it was uncovered.

"Virus said the mining laser had drilled into it… after a Rock ship had exploded several times" the Slug explained "You have any idea what it is?"

"That's the jump gate home. The very one that leads directly to the Empire of Messengers. I thought it would have been lost after thousands of years but it seems to have merely been buried" Ruwen said. He then put a hand to his face and mused for a few seconds. "We must destroy it."

"Destroy it? Didn't you want to return home once this was all over?" Slocknaw asked "Who knows if there will be another one that's intact?"

"It's a risk we'll have to take. I'm not returning home until your mission is complete and I can't risk the isolation being ruined by those Rebel scum or by Sandry" Ruwen said determinedly. "You said I was in command for this sector, so as Captain, I say we blow it up."

Slocknaw was speechless so Charlie spoke up "Before we fight over this might I suggest a third option, Captains?" He stood and pointed to Ruwen "You said you had a ship that could traverse the galaxy without a beacon network?"

"Yes, but it's…" Ruwen started before Charlie continued "So how about we go into the Crystal Empires, and secure your ship and the technology? If you need to pay off the last instalments or whatever, we can do that. We can set aside the scrap. Then we jump to Federation Command instantly. Then our mission is complete and you can still return home having fulfilled your code afterwards."

He crossed his arms and waited for an answer. Slocknaw remarked "Is it just me or has crossing the gender line made you more… wise?"

"Let's not go into stereotypes here Captain. It's probably just you" Charlie remarked, taking his tray back to the replicator for disposal "I'm just sick of this uncertain leadership crap. We've got two Captains on a light cruiser. That's two too many in my opinion."

Ruwen pondered Charlie's words for a few seconds before he said to the crew "Change of plans friends. We get the drive fixed and we then head off towards the Crystal Empires! Then we destroy the gateway once we're there."

There were no arguments for that strategy as they got to work fixing the various damages to the Nesasio uninterrupted over the following day.

Once the FTL drive was functional, Envoy Trikko picked up gravitational disturbances from outside the crystal fields and alerted the crew to a massive black-painted automated ship that was entering the system. It seemed to be twice the size of the Nesasio and armed with powerful, relativistic projectile weaponry.

Charlie wasn't going to question how she could possibly have sensed specific weapons, chalking it up to the Envoy having powers beyond his understanding.

"Keep the shields up. If they ever waver, those railguns might tear us to pieces faster than a Hermes missile launcher" Slocknaw warned the Envoy.

The machine broadcasted a massive electronic growl over all available comm channels. "This is an automated message from Assault Cruiser Version 3.1. Designation – Artificial Robotic Menace. Prepare to die Federation Vindicator Class Cruiser Designation – Osprey."

The automated ship headed on a course towards one of the other entrance beacon nodes in the system. "The Osprey?" Slocknaw asked, focusing his powers in the general trajectory of the enemy and picked up several lifesigns entering the system before the sensors could run a sweep.

"Seven lifesigns. Three Humans, an Engi, a Rock, a Mantis, and a Zoltan" he listed for the crew's benefit. "Although one of the Humans isn't like the others… it's an oddly cold sensation."

"Where in tarnation did that oversized varmint come from?" Ruwen shouted "Let's destroy the gateway and get out of here!"

Slocknaw shook his head. "The Osprey is on the same mission as we are."

Ruwen nodded and his demeanour changed to be more cheerily "Very well. It is within reason to rescue our counterpart from danger, as per the Courier Code. Virus and Translator, has the mining laser been attached and connected to Slocknaw's station?"

"Done and charging. If the conduits and capacitors hold, we'll be able to provide continuous artillery support" Virus informed him.

Ruwen asked Slocknaw to pick his targets for the beam weapons before ordering him to fire. Two powerful lasers fired from the Nesasio's wings, going for the engines of the automated ship. To his dismay, the beams were absorbed by the machine's shields. He cut power to the beams and waited for the capacitors to recharge again.

The automated cruiser seemed to ignore the smaller Nesasio as it kept its course towards the Osprey, growling again over the comms making communications impossible.

The Osprey slowly turned around to face the automated cruiser, laser weapons deploying along the sides and a red light glowing brighter in the ship's bow. "That's definitely a sign of one of the Jensens" Charlie remarked "They're all laser weapon aficionados."

The automated ship had first strike advantage however and fired several rapid-fire railguns at the Osprey. A barrage of tiny relativistic projectiles peppered the cruiser's shields. They glowed bright green for several hits until collapsing entirely.

While the automated cruiser's guns started cooling down, the Osprey returned fire with a laser barrage to which the cruiser attempted to dodge by spinning rapidly. Charlie had never thought a ship that big could be so agile. _Then again if you don't have to worry about a crew you can forget about inertial dampeners_, he thought to himself.

The automated cruiser took several hits into the shields but nothing seemed to get through until the Osprey fired a beam weapon. The laser somehow managed to penetrate the enemy's shields as it swept downrange. It didn't seem to do much actual damage but it was enough to make the ship break off and spin up its FTL drive.

"Target is armed with Vindicator Artillery. Tactical withdrawal necessary" came the next message over the comms.

Slocknaw reported to Ruwen that the Nesasio's beam weapons were charged and ready to fire. He told him to wait for the Osprey to strike for maximum effect. As he saw the lasers, the Slug fired two sweeping beams across the Rebel machine.

Pieces were burned off and the shield generator flickered and faded. The automated cruiser gave out one last growl before announcing "Critical Error. Self-Destruct in…"

It then broke into several large pieces of salvage, drifting and tumbling slowly in the depths of space. Communications were restored and the Osprey began hailing them with gratitude for the assistance.

"Holy crap. I didn't think they made those robotic ships in that size" Charlie remarked watching the debris drift away on screen.

Slocknaw shared that sentiment "There's only one place I've seen ships that big before and I certainly hope it's not on our route if the Rebels have control of it…"

Charlie Smith was excited as he stood in the teleporter room next to Ruwen, Translator and Virus #247-12 as part of the away team to the Osprey while Envoy Trikko, Duna and Slocknaw remained onboard to monitor the situation in case of problems.

"Slocknaw tells me that there's a Mantis onboard named Robert Smith" Virus said to him.

Charlie gave it some thought before shaking his head "I thought we went over this. My brother is not a Mantis. Smith is a common surname across many Human colonies. No doubt it's some Mantis with a Federation name – a pretty terrible one at that too."

"I'm guessing you wish your family name was something like Awesome or Proasheck?" Virus asked.

"Maybe, but still my brother Robert is not a Mantis" Charlie said insistently "He's just green. There are plenty of people modified like that and it makes more sense. You can't forget something as blatantly obvious as a Mantis for a brother."

There was a flash of light and Charlie was inside the cargo hold of a Vindicator-Class Cruiser. He took in a deep breath and felt rather light-headed from the difference in oxygen – they obviously had pumped extra life support into the room when informed of having a Lanius visit them.

He saw several stacks of metal lying in organised piles with signs indicating what they were used for. There was a single pile of large ingots labelled "Complimentary Lanius Food." Translator gave a short laugh and walked over "I should tell the Captain to adjust the composition of the air to more habitable levels. I heard all that oxygen can't be good for you."

The doors at the far end then opened up and several figures walked into the hold. A Human in a Federation Captain's light blue uniform stepped forward, followed by an Engi with a glowing green visor and a light blue uniform painted on the central chassis. A mature-looking Mantis and a Rock followed shortly behind. The Rock's uniform was rather dirty and tattered as if they never gave it a good sonic shower since they got it while the Mantis was immaculate – Charlie muttered it was too clean, adhering to exact Federation standards.

The Rock was the first to speak, shouting like an overexcited schoolgirl "I must be dreaming!" before rushing towards Ruwen, rattling the deckplates with each awkward step. Captain Jensen looked surprised at seeing a Rock(wo)man move so quickly – he had never seen her move faster than a lumbering gait.

The Crystal did not look forward to having another fangirl go after him, so he tried to brush her off. "I've got things to discuss with your Captain" he explained to her "No offense friend but I don't need another worshipper at this time."

The Rock laughed "My father tried to teach me all that religious nonsense but I know the truth. You're magical but you're not a god of mine." Her glowing red eyes flashed brighter "But this is exciting. To finally meet one of my magical ancestors!"

"Well that's all good but unless your father is a Grand Basilisk and you're a runaway princess, you'll have to wait for the meet and greet" Ruwen said.

Douglas gave a knowing smirk as Debbie perked up even further.

Ruwen paused, trying to read the Human's expression before looking back at the Rock. "Wait… you are, aren't you? You're the missing princess aren't you?"

"Princess Debbie of Vrachos IV. The Rebellious" the Rock declared proudly, giving the Crystal a very sincere bow "Liberated from the clutches of the Grand Basilisk of Numa V by the courageous Captain Douglas Jensen of the Federation. And my father said they were not good for anything."

"The media says you're Ariadne, The Gentle" Ruwen remarked, putting a hand on the Rock's shoulder "Twins?"

"No, just stupid religiously-blinded parents. They can't tell the difference between blue and red" Debbie said "Otherwise they'd know I'm not the one to be married off to a fragile sandstoner like Sandry. I heard he doesn't even spar with his wives for fears he'll break apart. What a complete weakling!"

"Well if you're an enemy of Sandry and his cult, you're my friend" Ruwen said to her "So what do you want to talk about with your magical ancestor? Because if you want more pebbles on Sandry, I've got some shearing material on him myself…"

Meanwhile, Douglas looked to Charlie and asked "What's the word about my father, Ensign? Slocknaw said you served on the Condor when Kazaaak attacked it."

"Not good I'm afraid. I didn't see what happened to the command staff but I do know that Kazaaak found Joshua particularly interesting before the ship went down" Charlie replied sadly.

"So he's either dead or a Mantis slave" Douglas said glumly "Kazaaak will have a lot to answer for if I ever find him."

The Mantis named Robert then approached and asked "I had a brother who served on the Condor as an engineer. His name was Charlie."

Charlie frowned "The only Mantises onboard were the ones who were destroying the ship."

"My brother's not a Mantis! There's no way he'd be one of those filthy, bloodthirsty monsters!" Robert said indignantly "My brother was a Human, just like you except not as good looking."

For some reason Charlie felt insulted but somehow in a friendly manner. "The only Charlie Smith onboard the Condor was me. And if my brother was a Mantis, I think I would remember something as obvious as that."

Robert's antennae perked up as he picked up something familiar about the Human's scent. "You certainly smell like my brother" he asked, concerned "But why are you a girl?"

Charlie doubled back at what he was hearing "You know what I smell like? That's just plain creepy! Get away from me you crazy bug!"

Robert raised his claws high. "We've known each other for a long time, Charlie. Of course I'd recognise your scent even if you look different" he said "Can we at least hug? I missed you Charlie"

Five years of memories flooded back into Charlie's head, memories he tried to suppress. "Get away from me!" he shouted in a panic "I killed you! I killed you! I. Killed. You! You can't possibly be alive!" _This is a cruel trick!I need to get out of this metal prison!_

Charlie kept backing away as the Mantis moved closer, calling out his name in a worried tone. "No! Kissekek, please don't! I'll do anything!" he shouted to the insect before tripping over the pile of scrap Translator was shaping and passing out from shock.

Robert grabbed him carefully with his claws and picked him up. "Who the hell is Kissekek? Sounds like a Mantis name" he asked before running to the Engi. "Two-Zar, I need help! My brother's in shock!"

Two-Zar was chatting with Virus in the native Engi language of static, beeps and growls. The two platforms were about to lean in close when he shifted his right arm into a laser gun, pointing it at Virus. "Negative Robert Smith. Override V-7 initialised. Loading Combat Programming."

Douglas shouted at the Engi "Two-Zar? What the hell? Put the gun down! Now!"

"Cannot comply. Virus #247-12 is designated criminal across all Engi-controlled space. Crimes: Binary scrambling x8, Nano-dissolution x3, and Variable Interference x20. Sentence: Deletion of viral software to prevent spread. Virus has assumed control of Metfel's platform. Armament required."

"You're missing one count of Nano-dissolution" Virus pouted.

"Noted. Platform designation?" Two-Zar demanded.

"If you keep pointing that peashooter in my face, it will be yours that'll undergo nano-dissolution" Virus said, her monotone sounding more distorted in annoyance. Her right arm shifted into a sharp energy blade which began to glow brightly.

"I like how you and the Hive Mind have even found ways to charge me for the crimes the other members of the crew have committed" she remarked.

"All crimes committed by viral software's accomplices caused by viral software hacking and disrupting organic brainwaves." Two-Zar said "Organics committing Engi crimes against Hive-Mind deemed impossible. Five seconds to delete software or this platform will disassemble you."

"Five seconds? Are you feeling generous or something?" Virus questioned as Two-Zar then fired several shots at her. They harmlessly were absorbed by her modulated personal shield. "Maybe not."

Douglas leapt at Two-Zar and knocked the machine over, punching him several times in the visor, causing it to shatter. "Stand down now! You do not take orders from the Engi Brigade or whatever group you're a part of on this Federation mission!"

"Programming override. Viral software threat to this platform's physical integrity and software. Unable to comply with Federation orders until threat resolution is performed." Two-Zar replied, making no other efforts to struggle, knowing the Human was superior in strength. Instead he shifted an ion stunner on his laser gun and powered it up.

"That's enough, polymer waste!" Translator snarled at Two-Zar "If you keep up with this insubordination towards your master, I will disassemble your platform and reshape it into something I can integrate into this model train." He held up several shaped ingots in the form of an old railway locomotive "Virus #247-12 is my friend. And I will not have her attacked because you don't like how she was programmed."

Two-Zar paused as he processed the information. "Lanius friendly with viral software?" he asked, confused. "Impossible. Viral software incompatible with Lanius. Programming causes conflict."

"You get used to it after a while" Translator said smugly "In fact, I was considering Virus and myself to be more than friends. Why don't you process that into a file and decompress it?"

Two-Zar's visor glowed brighter as his processors went into overdrive. "Lanius pathological hatred of viral software. Lanius is partner to viral software. Deemed impossible. Lanius friend of viral software. Lanius pathological hatred of viral software…" The Engi's body went limp as everything powered down.

Douglas rolled off the body of his Engi friend and said "I didn't think he'd react so violently. I'm sorry for the trouble he's caused."

"It's fine. I already looked at his specifications – it would have taken him a long time to get through my shields with the firepower he carried. He's armed for infiltration, not for dealing with heavy targets" Virus said, retracting her blade.

Douglas nodded "He's part of the Botan Network – the espionage wing of the Engi Brigade. They're trained to go extended periods without a connection to the Hive-Mind."

"And yet he seemed quick to judge me as a threat" Virus said.

"He's been through a lot in recovering the intel that's vital for the Federation. Many Botans died to bring us this information" Douglas said "He didn't want to be added to list of casualties. So what's your story? Why have you taken control of Metfel's platform?"

Virus explained to the Captain the truth about viral software and how the Engies divided their programs into different castes, like an insect hive. "Viruses do the things other Engi platforms are too proud to perform. We're expected to replicate and die unfulfilled and alone with everyone around hating our presence."

She then looked to Translator and said "Nice use of the logic bomb. But you were joking about that last part though, right? More than friends?"

"I was looking for something that would really send an ignorant platform's programming for an infinite loop" Translator remarked "Although it's only a joke if you choose it to be one." He then went to help Robert with taking Charlie and Two-Zar to the medical facilities onboard the Osprey.

Douglas scratched his head and said to Ruwen "I thought had the strangest crew this side of the galaxy. But even the mysteries of Abadoth have nothing on what I've just seen."

"There's been a change of plans" Ruwen informed his crew once he returned to the Nesasio. Everyone had gathered in the mess hall to listen in.

"We'll be heading to the Crystal Empires, but the Osprey will be assisting us in the destruction of the gateway as to prevent Rebel incursions" the Crystal explained.

"They're not coming with us?" Charlie asked, rubbing his head from the pain. He had been given a quick medical examination and a recommendation of grief counselling by the Osprey's doctor before being returned to the Nesasio. _Can't believe Robert's a Mantis…_ he thought to himself.

"From what I've been told, the Osprey is heading towards a place called Chiron Beta Prime. Apparently it's a massive shipyard" Ruwen said to him.

"That's the Chiron Beta Prime Shipyards. It's the home of the Dyson System and its famous Hades Ring" Charlie said excitedly. "I've always wanted to go there ever since I was a kid! They even ran a contest across the galaxy where they hid millions of grey tickets inside of…"

"Charlie, we're not going to Chiron Beta Prime!" Slocknaw said harshly. "I hope Captain Jensen knows what he's doing by going there. No doubt the Rebels have control of the shipyards of the sector."

Charlie looked at the ground "I know, I know, but I've always wanted to see the Hades Ring."

Ruwen said "I've given the Osprey the proper calibrations to take down the gateway. As soon as we are through, they'll destroy it right behind us. Even if my codes cannot be duplicated through artificial means, our enemies may find a way to bypass the security system now that the device is uncovered."

His mind flashed back to Debbie. The Rock(wo)man had some great difficulty accepting need to destroyed a Crystal relic, but he assured her there was no other choice. They would meet again. He took a deep breath and said "Let's go home!"

The Nesasio hovered in front of the crystalline device while the Osprey hovered nearby, weapons charging up, ready to fire and shatter the ring.

Ruwen sent a transmission to the device, humming the codes in a specific sequence. The space around the ring began to distort as the device powered on.

A wormhole formed in the ring, the edges crackling with energy. "Holy crap" Charlie exclaimed, seeing the phenomenon on his console "We're going to fly through that?"

"I'm concerned as well" Envoy Trikko said "Gravitational disturbances are on the same level as being close to a singularity. There are also some anomalies in…"

"Just fly through it, friend" Ruwen said, giving control of the helm to Virus "We'll be fine as long as you go straight through and not at an angle."

The Nesasio began its approach, moving straight into the wormhole. Lightning crackled around the hull, alarms started blaring across the ship and several consoles overloaded and powered down from the stresses.

Charlie could feel and hear the ship's hull creaking and buckling under the stresses induced upon it. "The ship's going to tear itself apart! We have to reverse thrust!" he shouted "The ship won't hold!"

"Give it another second. This is par the course for metallic vessels" Ruwen said "Keep the engines maximised!"

Charlie complied reluctantly, furiously tapping the console, even activating the rearward emergency thrusters for the extra push. Just when the shaking got too much for the Human to keep standing, it ceased and sent him off balance.

The Nesasio was in a sector not listed on the star charts with strange crystalline ships dotting the horizon. Ruwen spoke "Here we are, my home sector. It has been a long time since others have set foot here. I wonder how you will be received."

He entered a few commands into the console and said "The coordinates of my old ship have been forwarded to your navigation system. Let's hope it's still there."

As the Nesasio jumped away, the crystalline gateway started crackling and shattering in places as its counterpart in Vrachos was breaking apart. Just before the wormhole collapsed though, the bow section of a Rebel carrier came hurtling through, releasing several fighters and automated ships docked within.

While the fighters began their pursuit of the Nesasio, the automated ships flew into what was left of the carrier and carried out a large beacon node – one designed for sector-to-sector travel.


	8. Sector ? - Crystal Homeworlds - Entry

**Sector ? – Crystal Homeworlds – Calamities**

The beacon node the Nesasio jumped to was busy with traffic. Thousands of crystalline ships and shuttles of various sizes, shapes and colours buzzed between several points in space, forming large convoys. Upon seeing the strange new ship arriving, they kept their distance, unsure of its allegiance.

Ruwen entered in several codes into the Nesasio's IFF which identified it as an Empire of Messengers vessel. The ships however still maintained their distance as it did not match any known profiles.

"So if you have the technology to travel without the beacon network, why is such a network set up?" Charlie Smith asked Captain Ruwen Shattersphere.

"Good question friend. Perhaps even after all this time, the tech is still expensive and not available for the smaller vessels" the Crystal said as several fighters warped into the system through small wormholes. They resembled large amber-coloured crystal shards with engines on the back.

"The Amber Splinters" Ruwen explained to the others "Imagine them as Crystal Zoltans, except without the warrior-monks and just the law enforcement parts."

"Unknown vessel, state where you have acquired your IFF codes" the lead fighter hailed "Do not try to run or we will lock the beacons down."

_And nothing is more threatening than a fleet of angry commuters_, Ruwen thought to himself worriedly. He replied to the fighters "I'm from the Empire of Messengers, friend. My old ship got destroyed and these folk were happy to give me a ride. It's been a long time, what's changed?"

"Everything Captain Shattersphere!" the leading Crystal shouted angrily "Your arrival has brought more intruders at our door! Even now, their ships of orange and black are arriving in massive numbers and gathering at the gateway you failed to seal behind you."

"The Rebels? How did they get here so quickly?" Ruwen asked, looking to the shipboard clock. They had barely been an hour into the sector.

Envoy Trikko spoke up "I mentioned there were anomalies before we went through, but for all I knew, it could have been something the wormhole did. The Rebels most likely had forward assets waiting for us to open the gateway, perhaps even having a beacon ready to be deployed if we tried to destroy the connection."

"Confound it!" Ruwen grumbled "Here I thought we'd finally get some reprieve! Looks like the chase is still on."

"You will pay for your crimes, Captain Shattersphere! The Empire of Messengers has always stirred up trouble for us! Open fire!" the lead Crystal fighter said before cutting transmissions. The fighters began swooping in close, firing crystalline projectiles at the Nesasio.

The stealth cruiser immediately began moving, swiftly dodging past the projectiles while powering up the beam weapons. Several projectiles were shattered on the shields until the layers dropped down to one. A crystalline missile went right through the barrier to score a breach across the hull, damaging the phase-cloaking device in the process.

"It seems they can pierce shields with those crystal projectiles if they get too low" Trikko remarked, quickly bringing the layers back up as the fighters began another pass. The Nesasio fired the Glaive Beam, tearing one of the craft into a small, temporary sun, complete with its own orbiting crystalline debris.

Seeing the destructive power of a single beam weapon, the other fighters decided to warp out of the area. They quickly jumped away with their wormhole drives except for the lead fighter which briefly drifted through space before slowly flying towards the Nesasio.

"Boss… Captain, I'm requesting permission to dock this bad boy into the cargo hold" Translator announced cheerfully.

The next jump beacon was oddly quiet with only an amusing sign hovering next to the beacon which was translated to "Carnelian Proving Grounds. Lower your shields and power down your weapons. We will add your ship to our collection."

A few red crystal cargo ships larger than the Nesasio itself flew past them at dangerous velocities, sending out a transmission that was the equivalent of leaning on the horn at another driver. "Damned Carnelian truckers! They have no respect" Ruwen grumbled before heading to the engine room.

Charlie was going over the wormhole drive of the fighter craft the boarding team had captured. Translator had already excused himself to "go polish his blades" to which Charlie assumed it was his way of saying he wanted to tinker with some machinery with his Engi friend or to tinker with her machinery. He found it hard to tell with the two.

"If I had a few days, I could probably figure out how to jury-rig the Nesasio with this wormhole drive" Charlie explained to Ruwen as he pried a chunk of amber crystal off the surface of the drive.

"We don't have that sort of time, friend. We need to get to the Bravais and then get to your Federation Command so we can deliver the package" Ruwen said. "I'm tempted to take a look inside and see what the fuss is all about, but that would violate the Courier Code. But what's the point in the Code if your Empire is going to be destroyed? The Rebellion certainly won't honour it."

"I think Slocknaw said we can't take a peek at it because we might get captured by the Rebels and be forced to tell them what we know about their secret projects" Charlie said "Not even the Engies know what's inside."

"How would you know?" Virus asked, entering the room. "You passed out when I got to talk to one of the original Botans who brought us the package. He didn't tell me what was in it either but he knows what's in it."

"Don't bring that up please Virus" Charlie said, putting a hand to his head. "I'm getting a headache just remembering that. So why are you here in the engine room? I've never seen you come in here when I'm around."

"I'm familiar with all of the equipment on this ship" Virus said "And I'm curious as to how you'll be able to jury-rig two pieces of alien technology together."

"Translator's actually polishing his blades isn't he?" Charlie asked, waving a hand in front of his nose.

"I wish I could turn off the olfactory sensors but that's a hardware issue" Virus laughed, examining the drive.

Charlie said "You know you should tell him how you feel."

"Tell who?" Virus asked.

Charlie sighed "Translator. Romance seems to be a hot topic on the Nesasio and I feel obliged to discuss it with you."

Virus was about to say something when Ruwen's expression changed to that of raw fury. "They shot at me! They shot at us! My own people shot at us!" the Crystal shouted. "All because someone had the bright idea that we should go to the Crystal Empires instead of just destroying the gateway!"

He looked and pointed to Charlie. "I hope you're happy that you've let the Rebellion and the Numa Tribe gain access to wormhole drive technology! You've doomed us all!"

"This isn't my fault, sir" Charlie said calmly, wondering what just happened to the Crystal. "I only suggested the option."

"Because you wanted a shiny new ship! And look at the state of the sector now! A few hours in and our isolation is already ruined by the Rebels!" Ruwen shouted as he reached outwards with his hands and encased the room with crystalline shards, sealing everyone inside.

"Holy crap!" Charlie said as the Crystal charged at him. Virus deployed a red hot blade from one of her arms as she quick deduced what was going on. "Get down Charlie!"

"All of the blame lies squarely on your shoulders! I should have known better than to trust a Human's judgement!" Ruwen ranted. Charlie jumped out of the way only to be grabbed by a crystalline crook that formed in front of him. "How long have you been working for them? How long?"

"What?" Charlie shouted incredulously.

Virus slammed her blade into the crystal formation only to have it shatter into pieces. A new blade immediately formed to replace it. Before the Engi could try again, Ruwen then sent out a crystal spine to impale her to the nearest wall.

"This is between me and Charlie. I'll get to your crimes once I'm finished" He said calmly before turning his rage towards Charlie.

"Everyone says you spent five years being a Mantis slave" the Crystal ranted, slamming Charlie to a wall and pressing the crook deeper. "But I've looked into the historical records and the proof is right there. A Mantis wouldn't keep a Human like you alive for that long. You've fooled everyone else with your story, but you cannot fool me! You've been working for the Rebellion!"

Charlie found it difficult to breathe and to even comprehend where the Crystal was getting this information from. "You've only been here for nearly two weeks…" he said weakly "You know nothing about what I've had to suffer through!"

Ruwen gave out a loud battle-cry and sent Charlie sailing through the air with another swing of the crystalline crook. The Human slammed into a containment plate of the drivecore and slumped to the ground. "You've betrayed your Federation and you've betrayed mine! I will kill you and delete your genetic data from the Clone Bay. You will watch yourself die from within!"

The Nesasio shook as if it took a heavy impact from a missile. The air vents shut down as life support went offline. Ruwen stood in front of Charlie and picked him up with one hand before walking over to Virus. "Don't think you're innocent either, machine."

"Apart from my accidental deletion of Controller Metfel, I hardly see…"

"That's because you're an infiltration program, designed by the Rebellion. Why else would you be curious enough to go against your caste?" Ruwen said accusingly.

"What." Virus asked, her monotone voice matching her actual tone "Curiosity is a natural circumstance from self-awareness. Just because I rebelled against the Hive-Mind doesn't make me part of the Rebellion."

"Just… shut up you stupid machine!" Ruwen shouted, smacking the Engi in the visor with a fist. Virus did not react, her head rolling with the blow to avoid too much damage.

Slocknaw then said over the comms "Captain, are you alright? We were cut off from all communication for a moment."

The Crystal started swaying, putting a hand to his head "Uggh… what just happened?" He looked around at the damage he had caused "What did I do?"

Ruwen released the crystal spine from Virus who immediately rushed to Charlie, ignoring her own damage. "It's not important Captain, you were not yourself. I'm sure we can understand that and forgive you."

Charlie grunted "It's like that Zoltan enforcer all over again."

Slocknaw reported "Fortunately it wasn't that guy. Somehow the Rebels managed to install a mind control device on an automated ship."

Charlie coughed several times in both pain and shock "Say what? Didn't you say they needed a living mind to operate? You even said the enforcer's device was rather crappy because of the fact it used Zoltan minds."

"That's why I said somehow. Translator will be going over the technology and come up with some explanation. What's your situation?" the Slug asked.

"I'm hurt" Charlie replied "The Crystal nearly killed me and said some really nasty things about my allegiance to the Federation. He also accused Virus of being an infiltrator."

"I did?" Ruwen asked "Because I haven't been here long enough to make such a judgement call."

"The more powerful mind control devices do use their victim's subconscious as a weapon. Nothing creates a more effective fighter than the power of suggestion" Slocknaw remarked as the Nesasio grabbed the pieces of automated scout with the tractor beam, bringing them into the cargo hold.

Charlie sighed as he entered the Clone Bay "I fear our Crystal friend may have some lurking doubts about us. We all might just have thoughts we don't wish others to see. And that's scary if the Rebellion can use it against us."

While Charlie was having most of his major organs being microcloned, Translator and Virus immediately got to work with picking through the pieces of automated scout. "I was hoping we'd have enough left to make a second puppy. Imagine if we could make a fleet of our own automated ships."

"Considering your shaping skills and my programming, we'd have a significant advantage against the automated fleet" Virus nodded, stepping on something fragile by accident and getting a foot covered in something cold, squishy and wet.

"However they've got quantity over quality. It doesn't matter if we have ten or even a hundred puppies with good programming and strong defences, because they've got thousands more" she examined what she had stepped on and showed it to everyone else.

"I think I discovered how the Rebellion managed to get a mind control device on an automated ship" the Engi added, holding a crushed Slug brain with wires attached to it. Several Human brains were also connected to it. They all were linked to an Engi wireless transmitter.

Slocknaw's eyestalks retracted into his head in disgust. "That is… I'm lost for words here on how disturbing that is…"

Translator examined it with his claws "I know a few ships in Vulture Fleet sometimes took out the brains of organic crews and shoved them into mind manipulation devices. Of course without a nutrient bath or even life support they didn't last very long so ships with such devices would specifically target…"

"I've heard enough, Translator" Slocknaw groaned "See if we can't give those brains their bodies back at the Clone Bay. They deserve a second chance at life – even the Slug."

"I don't think they're in any proper state to be revived" Virus said. "I say we give them a Federation funeral and throw them out the airlock with a few eulogies."

Translator said "I'll see what I can do with the Clone Bay and if it doesn't work, I will do just that." He then headed out of the cargo hold, carefully carrying the brains with him. He brushed past Envoy Trikko who looked at the brains curiously, muttered something about energy patterns before entering the cargo hold looking rather disturbed by something else.

She requested to the Slug "There's another gravitational anomaly that I've only just been able to sense now that the mind controller ship is gone. Can you reach out with your mind and find out what's going on?"

Slocknaw put his hands to the top of his head and reached out psionically into the system. He picked up several lifesigns in a large ship of sorts that was partially phased in another dimension – Crystalmen. They then messaged the Nesasio.

"I've heard tales that our isolation has finally ended. As a warrior I must demand to test my skills against you" a rugged-looking red Crystalman declared before his ship moved closer to engage. It uncloaked to reveal a cruiser slightly larger than the Nesasio and made of solid red crystal shards around a metal interior. A crude symbol had been painted on the hull which was crudely translated to "Burn The Weaklings"

Slocknaw called for battle stations before he slid to his post in the weapons control room. He had barely loaded up the targeting programs when intruder alarms sounded across the ship.

Four crystalline warriors beamed onboard right into the room before locking it down with an array of shards to the doors. Slocknaw cursed before grabbing his rifle and finding a place to hide. He was outnumbered four to one and they could easily find him by just following his slimy trail.

"Some warrior he is" one of the Crystals laughed "Runs at the first sign of danger. Weakling!" The others nodded, except for one of the warriors who seemed more interested in the music blaring out of his headset.

Slocknaw peeked out an eyestalk from behind cover. "Yippee-kay-yay" he muttered to himself unconsciously remembering another old movie from the Humans. He spied an air vent in the ceiling and briefly wondered if he could get in there or if someone could bypass the lockdown through that way. _Probably not and once I'm on the other side my grey uniform might turn green_, he thought to himself.

The Crystals moved towards his location, throwing several large chunks of crystal at nearby equipment and generally trashing up the place with their fists and laughing. Slocknaw was reminded of several Human television shows about higher educational facilities.

Slocknaw quickly moved to another position, taking several potshots at the warriors, the bolts of plasma scoring pockmarks in their crystalline hides. If anything, the gun was less effective against them than it was against the heat-resistant Rockmen of Vrachos.

A chunk of red crystal lodged in the Slug's side, causing a momentary wince of pain before his body immediately began sealing the damaged location, healing rapidly around the shard. "How many points is that?" one of the Crystals laughed.

_I can't fight this battle alone. I need to even the odds somehow_, he thought to himself, reaching out with his mind at the warriors.

He sensed that one of them was young - it was his first real battle and he had a grudge against his comrades over a hazing ritual. Slocknaw sighed and thought, _I can manipulate his mind into attacking his allies but that would be wrong… something my brother would do._

He glanced at the shard lodged in his side and the slimy blood trail he was leaving. He contemplated dying and letting the others deal with the threat but that would have left them free reign of the weapon's control room. He could hear the crew trying to break through the doors only for another layer of shards to form upon them.

_Forgive me everyone_, Slocknaw thought to himself, planting the seeds of mutiny in the Crystal warrior. Despite rarely ever using his power of suggestion outside of Slug-controlled space, he felt naturally drawn towards it and the power it wielded over others. The seeds took root rather quickly as the warrior grabbed his comrade and began shouting and punching him hard, sending crystalline chunks flying.

"And that's for sticking your spear in my mouth while I was sleeping!" he shouted as the other three tried to subdue him. The young Crystal was putting up a good fight in the Slug's opinion.

A swirling green mass dropped in from the air vent above, forming into a miniature green singularity. The four Crystals were then pulled in towards it, their bodies starting to spaghettify and twist into unnatural shapes when it exploded outwards, sending them flying into the walls. There was a shattering noise as three of them fell apart from the impacts, leaving crystal pieces everywhere.

Envoy Trikko formed inside the room with her hands held outwards and crackling with power. She approached the lone survivor who was trying to contact his ship. He then realised his fellow crew were all wiped out by the Nesasio's own boarding team as all he received was static.

"We cannot beat you, we surrender. Surely there is mercy wherever you came from!" the Crystal said weakly "I-I'll help clean up the mess we made."

Slocknaw approached him rather angrily, looking into his mind. "Surrender is not an option, cowboy. If I let you go, you'll bring your buddies."

"Of course I would! They've got as much right to fight you as anyone else! We're all brothers in arms after all!" the Crystal stated proudly "You'll even get the honour of having your bodies shot out of a cannon when we fight your friends!"

"Exactly. Dead men tell no tales" Slocknaw said, placing several shots at close range to the Crystal's head until the being was dead.

"That was rather dark Captain, but I guess it was necessary" Trikko said calmly "True progress can be achieved with minimal bloodshed."

The Nesasio moved quickly away from the Carnelian Cruiser. Translator was disappointed that he couldn't salvage their cruiser-sized Wormhole Drive but it was too integrated into the system to remove and transport. He reluctantly agreed to destroy it and settle with just a few choice pieces of salvage.

The next few jumps were relatively uneventful. The crew saw worlds composed of crystalline formations that sparkled like the polished jewels they were. Ruwen informed them that the atmosphere of the worlds was rather thin and the crew would need respirators to be able to visit them for extended periods of time.

"Too many gems" Translator remarked.

"Aren't crystals and gems composed of plenty of metals, just not in an obvious form?" Charlie asked the Lanius.

"Your cosmetics have selenium in it but you do not consume it unless you are desperate" Translator explained matter-of-factly "We prefer pure metal over raw or crystallised."

"I'm picking up an IFF on the sensors…" Duna reported over the comms. "It seems to be a Federation ship from Second Perseus Bomber Squadron. But what's it doing out here of all places? It has to be a glitch in the system."

"Run another scan. I'm sensing Humans in the area" Slocknaw ordered him.

The Rock ran another scan. "Federation Bomber-chassis. Orville Configuration – the computer's saying it's a support role" he explained "And now they're hailing us."

He put both Ruwen and Slocknaw on the comms to hear out what the Federation ship had to say. A bald man appeared on screen dressed in a badly-damaged blue uniform. His name tag read "Burton". Behind him was another man looking exactly like him except in a much cleaner uniform with the tag reading "Teldarim."

A third man tried to push himself into the picture, exactly like the others except his uniform was orange, like the Rebellion but his tag read "Weston."

Slocknaw assumed there was some sort of Clone Bay accident onboard the ship and they only had the one pattern in storage remaining – regulations forbade the cloning of more than one of the same person.

"This is Captain John Burton of the GFSS Light The Fires" the first man said. "Thank god you found us Nesasio! We've been stranded out here for months. Our Clone Bay has gone haywire and we're running low on food and medical supplies. We just can't last much longer."

The second man said "Are you sure we should be talking to them? What if they…"

"Can it Joey, they're fellow Federation loyalists" John said nervously "We got separated from our squadron and…"

Slocknaw said "Ok I'm going to stop you there. It's a little stupid to try and deceive a Slug. You ran away and left your squadron to die. It's written all over your minds."

"It's not our fault!" John shouted. "They were all over the Hades Ring and waiting for us! The defector had led us into a trap!"

Weston shouted "It was not a trap! I told you exactly where you could find the ship and where you would get the best shot at destroying it while avoiding all the guards."

John said "It was just too big. You really think we had a chance at destroying it with the firepower we're packing? That the whole squadron was packing? I didn't sign up for a suicide mission!"

Slocknaw sighed as he looked into their minds at what they had to face. It was a ship design he had never seen before – larger than even the supercarriers of the Federation. An entire city could have fit inside the vessel and it was still under construction as "wings" were being added.

He wondered if the Humans were exaggerating the size of the vessel for effect and it wasn't any bigger than a regular carrier ship. "The Orville Configuration is the most valuable asset in a bomber squadron. You had Hermes Missiles and a Defense Scrambler" Slocknaw informed them calmly.

Duna added "Defense drones don't do d'anything with that kind of loadout."

Slocknaw growled "You could have taken it down and set the Rebels back significantly. But instead you chose to run away and let your friends die in return for your own miserable lives! I should teleport over there myself and strangle you all for your cowardice!"

"Hold on there my ornery friend, because I got some questions for these folk" Ruwen said, putting a hand to the bottom of his face. He asked "How in tarnation did you folk end up here anyway? The gateways have been sealed for a very long time."

"We found a strange device just floating out in space. We brought it onboard and hooked it up to our engines since it looked like something you'd attach to one" Weston said.

"Really? What gave you that idea?" Ruwen asked.

"Well we already had looted the Clone Bay from a Mantis ship, our engines use Rockman technology and our shields have been stripped out with Engi designs. A crystalline FTL drive wasn't anything new" Weston explained.

"We then ended up stranded in this strange sector of crystals and have been living like scavengers ever since it burned out" Joey continued for him "But there's hardly anything organic in this place, just a lot of crystals."

"We've mapped out the sector and can give you the data. Just please let us live! Give us another chance!" John said "You have it in your heart, right?"

Ruwen gave out a sigh "What do you think Slocknaw? You're an expert on Federation matters. I'm just a courier."

The Slug contemplated for a bit. He could tell the crew were being honest in their intentions and were all dedicated to the Federation's cause. He informed them "I'm going to give you your chance to redeem your sorry lives. The Federation fleet's still standing - get there while you can."

He forwarded them the coordinates to the "Last Stand" and ordered Charlie to bring them the wormhole drive they had recovered so they could get back into Federation territory and perhaps provide a strategic advantage. Or to finish what they couldn't do before.

It was only when the bomber jumped away in a crudely-formed wormhole that Charlie said "You know Captain, we could have given them the intel so they could complete our mission in case we don't make it."

"Why didn't I think of that? Crap."


	9. Sector ? - Crystal Homeworlds - Sandry

**Sector ? – Crystal Homeworlds – The Empire of Messengers**

The Nesasio was docked at a small blue asteroid mining base that had been repurposed as a trading outpost. As they landed, Ruwen Shattersphere pointed to the large blue Crystal Cruiser sitting in a small repair station. "There it is, the Bravais. Good thing I took out that extended lease before I left."

He and Captain Slocknaw went to talk to the station owner about getting the ship operational while the rest of the crew went for shore leave. Most of the station had empty corridors with automated drones and vendors. Obviously there wasn't a lot of traffic in the area to warrant a large staff.

Ensign Charlie Smith and Envoy Trikko were taking a stroll through the station's crystal garden. "It's been a while since we actually had some time to ourselves" Charlie said to her, stopping to examine the roses. The plants looked like they could fall apart at the slightest touch.

"That's true. We've always been busy dealing with some problem on the ship to actually discuss what we want to do with our lives" the Zoltan replied, grabbing his hand. "I'm very curious about how far you are willing to take this relationship, Charlie."

"What do you mean?" Charlie asked "Because I'm not sure where we currently are."

"We're at the stage where we look at each other and plan for the future together" Trikko said "But that future depends on how you really think of me. You've seen my natural form and have said many times that you don't find it appealing."

Her body shifted into a green, featureless humanoid. Charlie said "When I first saw you, it was because you looked like a cartoon character from my childhood. But over the course of our travels which may or may not have existed, I've come to like you for who you are, even if you're very odd. I don't care what you look like, it doesn't matter to me anymore."

"But you'd still be unable to find me in a crowd of Zoltans so you do need to have come care" she laughed. Charlie found it odd she could still vocalise and breathe without any visible features for doing so. "What you need to do is embrace the sight of the Great Eye..." the Envoy added.

"And how would I go about that? I'm not a person made of energy" Charlie asked, sitting down on a bench "You're the ones with all the crazy religious stuff that grants you magical powers."

She laughed "If you want to see like a Zoltan, all you need to do is undergo genetic engineering like my ancestors did centuries ago. We were not always energy beings you know" Trikko explained, putting a hand on Charlie's thigh.

"Genetic engineering? Isn't that illegal?" Charlie asked placing an arm over the Zoltan's shoulders "I mean the regulations are strange and you can do things like change your physical gender or remove a family history of terminal illnesses without anyone batting an eye but doctors throw the book of regulations at you when you mention a strength boost or obtaining telescopic vision. It's complete hypocrisy"

Trikko laughed, playfully punching him in the side. "No one understands hypocrisy better than we do, you unevolved monkey-man!"

"I'm sure the Clone Bay can provide a few enhancements for microcloning. Virus has extensive knowledge on human physiology" she continued.

"Sounds like a plan. Besides the eyes though, you think there are other enhancements I could get?" Charlie asked.

"One thing at a time" Trikko chuckled, touching faces with Charlie. The Human felt like he was being kissed by another person. He decided to give up on making sense of the Zoltan natural form and return the gesture to which he found oddly enjoyable.

Just when the romance was about to escalate however, someone had to interrupt. In this case it was Translator the Lanius who was running away from an amber-coloured Crystal who was asking all sorts of personal questions.

"It's following me around. Do we have to keep it?" he wailed to them. "Because this one needs another home!"

"I thought you liked having new pets" Charlie commented, trying to hide his frustration. "What's wrong with this one?"

"Too many questions! It eventually doesn't let me answer them properly!" the Lanius said before moving away as the Crystal approached the two.

"Wow! You're those aliens that opened up the portal, aren't you! Are you guys busy? Can I ask you a question?" he asked, features wide in excitement "Your iron-based lifeform friend was interesting. We could be brothers! Imagine that!"

"Ummm that's nice, but we were in the middle of something" Charlie said. Trikko laughed "Not anymore. The mood's been killed. Might as well answer his questions."

"Great! What do you eat? What is your culture like? How long do your people live?" he asked the Zoltan. _Here we go_, Charlie thought to himself.

"Well you see my species are called the Zoltan… we're mostly made of energy" she started before the Crystal interrupted with a very childish laugh "Wow! I've heard of beings made of energy but I didn't think it was possible and it was just something you heard about on the television!"

He looked to Charlie "What about you? What sort of lifeform are you?"

"I'm a Human" he said, pointing to himself. _Let's hope he hasn't met the Rebels._

"I know that but what are you made of? The previous ones wouldn't tell me. They were not very nice either, citing how they were superior to everyone and wouldn't even answer simple cultural questions" the Crystal said, lowering his head sadly.

Trikko answered for him "He's a carbon-based lifeform."

"Carbon-based?" the Crystal asked before putting both hands on the sides of his head in shock "You mean he's made of meat?"

"If you put it that way. He's made of meat. A lot of creatures in the galaxy are" Trikko said "Too many if you ask me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Charlie protested "You want me to become more like you physically as well? Because once you've gone all energy there's no synergy?"

"That would be too much genetic modification for a single lifeform. I'm talking about the Mantis Swarms. You know, the thin sacks of meat who call everyone foolish meatsacks" Trikko laughed.

"Oh right. Those foolish meatsacks" Charlie said with a hesitant laugh.

The Crystal and Trikko started talking at length about nothing Charlie could understand. The word "meat" was thrown around a lot until eventually the Crystal said "Wow, thanks! I don't know if this is of any use to you, but I have some supplies I can offer you. Perhaps you can use them on your trip."

As he walked away to organise the delivery, Charlie sighed and said to Trikko "I think we were somewhere weren't we?"

"Another time" Trikko said, checking her comms. "Duna says he's found a scientist who's interested in our alien physiology. He says they have small cakes made from stiff dough and I just can't say no to that."

Charlie first wondered how a Zoltan could enjoy those horrible cakes, followed by how they could actually eat them, then followed by how the hell a Crystal knew how to make them. "Bah, what's the harm in a few simple tests anyway?"

Ruwen and Slocknaw were talking to a purple-coloured Crystalman who claimed to be a collector of various alien artefacts, the stationmaster and a cousin of Ruwen.

They were discussing matters of exchange inside the hangar bay in their natural resonating voices to which the Slug had difficulty trying to keep up with. The main gist of the conversation he got was that Ruwen had signed an extended lease and he was on his last day.

After that was sorted out, they then switched to their universal translators to speak with Slocknaw.

"Very well let's see the goods. I'm sure what is scrap to you is priceless to me!" the collector said excitedly "Make me an offer I cannot refuse!"

Slocknaw nodded and opened the cargo hold doors by remote. Several pallets of various scrap metals and ingots were lowered to the ground on their hover-pallets. The Crystal looked excited at the bounty before him "You know there were these Humans a few days ago who came by with some interesting artefacts. Funny thing about them – they all looked exactly the same except for their colours. Very shady fellows."

"We met them too" Slocknaw replied before showing the collector around the scrap collection. The Crystal nodded with intrigue before pausing at the pieces from a wrecked Rock ship.

"My word! Is this... a 25th century Rockman thrust stabilizer?!" he asked excitedly, examining a pile of rocks with thrusters attached to it "What do you want for it?"

"I take it it's not valuable enough to exchange for a Wormhole Drive for Ruwen's ship?" Slocknaw asked, putting on his best haggling face. There was a nodding of heads. "What else have you got then?"

"Very well, a payment in kind. I have these explosives that emulate our race's innate ability. Perhaps that would interest you?" the collector suggested "Or I have an extra ship weapon laying around somewhere. Perhaps you could make use of it?"

Ruwen said "How much is a wormhole drive large enough to be fitted onto a cruiser?"

"Well as your alien friend said, it will cost you a lot more than just the thrust stabiliser" The collector then said before looking up at the Nesasio "I'm quite interested in the phase-cloaking device you said your ship has. The Carnelians are unwilling to part with their designs but I'm wondering if you're willing to part with that system in exchange for the drive?"

Slocknaw shook his head "That has saved our lives more times than I can count…"

"Ruwen told me all about your mission. You're on a delivery run. Why do you need the cloaking device if you're going straight to your destination?" the collector asked "In fact, when you get there you could probably pick up a new one. Supply and demand, am I right?"

"I don't see…" Slocknaw started before the collector interrupted with "Wait, I have a better proposal! I long to see the galaxy. I propose I come with you. What do you say?"

"What about your collection? Your station?" Ruwen asked.

"Your cruiser's been sitting here for a long time without problems" the collector replied "It'll be fine."

Slocknaw said "Look, we're not a cruise ship. If you were to join, what could you provide for us and our crew?"

The collector said "I used to be a Shard Warrior like my cousin. Then I took an…" "I've heard that tale a lot" Ruwen interrupted.

"Hey hey hey! I got the injury fixed but they don't take people with a limp" the collector growled, pointing to his knee. A large chunk of it appeared to be a different shade of purple.

"I can still be a fighter. I shan't even gather my belongings - only permit me to leave my family a message. Someone's got to watch the collection while I'm gone. And the kids."

"Welcome aboard then" Slocknaw said, taking out a datapad and sending the cargo back into the Nesasio's hold. _We can register him in the Clone Bay and microclone him a new leg_, he thought to himself before requesting "Please enter your name for the records."

The Crystal was about to write it down when collision alarms resounded across the station. The Slug sensed the minds of an army of Rockmen heading straight towards the station. The collector activated the crystalline blast doors at the hangar entrance to deter the intruder.

Two massive cannons deployed from nearby hatches, followed by several combat drones. The collector assumed the ship would crash into the barrier and be finished off by the defense guns only to have the barrier shattered into tiny, glistening pieces.

A sandstone-brown Rock Cruiser then flew towards the station unimpeded, massive gouts of flame erupting from the front as it slowed itself down for a landing. Ruwen knew there was only one Rockman who could do such a thing as shatter crystal barriers with their minds. "SANDRY!" the Crystal shouted.

The cannons fired two powerful shots each at the incoming hostile, smashing massive holes in the plating, causing the cruiser to tumble as it dropped, gravity kicking in. A trail of sand followed behind as the ship's plating tore itself off in the process and burned a massive scar across the deckplates from the angle of descent.

It finally stopped once it crossed the whole length of the hangar and started burning the wall in front of it. The airlocks of the ship opened up and several black-uniformed sandstone Rockmen stepped out, heavy cannons blazing, shooting random civilians and security forces without hesitation or question.

The defense drones were easily smashed to pieces by the firepower being laid upon them. "As Charlie would say… Holy crap that's a lot of Numa Tribesmen." Slocknaw said, grabbing his pistol and waiting for the confirmation tone of the gun accepting his identity. _Now would be a good time to remember to bring a rifle on away expeditions_, he thought to himself as it gave a quick beep and he started upping the power settings, _or a really big gun_.

A group of sandstone Rocks in red robes over the black uniforms marched out the airlocks, forming a protective circle around another Rockman.

He was as sandstone-brown as the rest of his tribe, except his black uniform was in the style of military dress, with bulky shoulder pads adorned with crystalline spikes and a black patrol cap. His face was covered with a massive "beard" made of green moss.

Slocknaw remembered seeing that face on posters around the Numa Sector, titled with "Vote for Sandry Numa. Or else!" in sheer mockery of the Federation and its democratic system.

"His ship is still here so he'll be around here somewhere. I want his codes. Start with that repugnant piece of Engi junk!" Sandry ordered his subordinates "No doubt he's sided with the pathetic Federation to avoid my wrath!"

"He couldn't get any more blatant if the Generalissimo tried" Slocknaw muttered to Ruwen only to find the Crystal and his cousin had stepped out of cover to face the fancy Rock. The Slug decided discretion was the better part of valour and activated his personal cloaking device.

Guns were pointed at Ruwen and the collector only to have Sandry gesture for the soldiers to lower their weapons. "Ruwen Shattersphere. Good thing you revealed yourself" the Rock said calmly "I had doubts you were still alive."

"And I had doubts you would have changed your looks" Ruwen replied "Still love the beard though. I bet it gives the Princesses something to hang on to."

"We all wish, but no Princess Debbie is such a gentle lover for someone who claims to be rebellious" Sandry said, bashing his fists together "Now banter aside, I'll only ask you one more time. Give me your command codes."

"Never!" Ruwen said "You will have to kill me!"

"I really don't want to have to do this Ruwen. Like you, I'm more of a lover than a fighter. Why do you insist on making this more difficult than it needs to be? I'll let you go if you give me the codes. I'm always true to my word."

"Except when it comes to betraying someone" Ruwen remarked.

"Fine, if you don't give me the codes, how about I shoot your friend?" Sandry asked as the Rocks raised their guns at the Crystal collector.

The shady Crystal put his hands in the air in surrender "Don't kill me! I'm the stationmaster! I have the codes to the Bravais. I have the codes to everything here!"

"Even better. Looks like you're no longer useful to me. Shoot him" Sandry stated. The Rocks opened fire, shattering the collector into fragments in a few seconds.

"I meant shoot Ruwen! Not the stationmaster you idiots!" Sandry shouted at his guards. They turned their guns towards Ruwen before Sandry yelled "Don't shoot him now! He's gone back to being important!"

There were frantic apologies from the Rocks, followed by blame-shifting to each other. Ruwen just frowned at the Rockmen and their incompetence "You just shot my cousin. He was a sleazebag but he was my cousin!"

"And now he's dead. You had your chance to surrender your ship and the secrets of the wormhole drive to me but I guess that since I'm here I'll be able to figure it all out. Then once I do, I'll end that silly alliance with the Rebels. The galaxy will be mine for the taking and no one will stop me! I won't be a Grand Basilisk; I will be the only Basilisk. It will be the dawn of a new age of Rock!"

"You certainly like to talk for someone who didn't want to waste time with silly banter" Ruwen said, raising his arms and forming a crystalline barrier around the two. "You're still a student in the Ways of the Shard Warrior."

"Your powers are weak, old man" Sandry said with a laugh, forming a crystalline sword in his hands "I've learned many things since we last met."

He smashed the hilt of the sword against the barrier and it immediately cracked and shattered into tiny pieces. "I want everyone to see our fight and there can only be one winner."

"That barrier was just a test to see what my student had learned" Ruwen remarked, forming a crystalline spear "I'm still a Shard Warrior. And you have much to learn about the discipline."

"When I left you to die, I was but an apprentice" Sandry replied, circling around the Crystal who in turn started circling around him. The rest of his guards knew the ritual about to take place and helped surround the two fighters.

Before the circle was completed though, Sandry drew out a large revolver-style pistol and fired several shots into the Crystal's chest. "But now I am a master!" Sandry added as Ruwen fell to his knees, several large chunks blown out of his chest.

"You brought a gun to a crystal fight. How pragmatic" Ruwen remarked dryly "But if you strike me down, I'll become…"

Sandry shot him again until his gun started clicking from using up its entire clip. The Crystal shattered into fragments before his eyes. "More dead than you can possibly imagine" the Rock quipped as he put on a pair of glasses and started probing the fragments with his foot. The readout on the lenses indicated that the Crystal had definitely expired.

"I loved doing that! Someone go scoop up his fragments and put him in the Clone Bay. I want to do this again."

Several plasma bolts smacked into Sandry, blowing out chunks of sandstone. Slocknaw flickered into existence, clinging tightly under the hull of the Nesasio, holding a pistol at his target.

When Sandry's guards opened fire, he dropped to the ground to avoid being hit and slid away quickly behind cover while his pistol cooled down.

Sandry laughed like a madman as he fell to his knees in shock and pain. He yelled to his guards "Melt the slimy bastard! Everything must melt! Melt them all!"

Then the Nesasio's mining laser fired at the Rock, cutting him in half before sweeping upwards and through his ship. Several explosions went off as the fuel stored within detonated, fragments of sandstone flying out of the wreckage.

Seeing their leader cut down in front of them, one of the commanders immediately took charge and shouted "Get back to the Bulwark! We're getting out of here!"

Despite the damage incurred to the cruiser, it still managed to take off on its battered impulse engines which demonstrated the rugged construction of Rock engineering. However, as it flew away, large fragments of it broke off until it was merely a pile of stone and scrap crashing into the hangar again.

Slocknaw could sense lifesigns within the wreckage and he saw a single cloning tank with a few pebbles floating about inside. He used the base of his pistol to smash the tank open, followed by several shots into the mass of sandstone.

"And so ends the reign of Grand Basilisk Sandry Numa" he declared proudly, holstering the pistol and waiting for his crew to return to the Nesasio.

Charlie took a deep breath as he stepped out of the Clone Bay. He couldn't remember what exactly caused him to die but he hoped it was doing something dangerous. Considering that the Engi Virus was patching up a hull breach in the room, something big had gone down in the system.

He ran a hand over his chin to check to see if the Clone Bay brought him back to his original body before looking down at himself and smiling. "I've got my glorious beard back and the shuttle's in the docking bay."

He looked back at his cloning tank and said, putting on a new uniform "I wonder if I could set this to alternate between deaths?"

Virus said, her purple visor glowing brightly "I can arrange that. I'm just about finished patching this breach. We had a bit of a firefight with some damage to the systems. The damage is mostly superficial but we've spent the last few days adapting the ship to Crystal technology."

Charlie scratched his head in confusion "Anyone mind filling me in on what happened? All I remember is love and a lot of blades."

"You died in a vivisection gone wrong. The idiots in the lab said they made a grave miscalculation and they broke you into pieces. They sought to do better with me and well…" Trikko explained, entering the room and leaning in close to Charlie.

"Is it just me or does the area and you look more… radiant?" Charlie asked the Zoltan, looking around and realising several parts of the ship seemed brighter as well.

Virus said "Trikko left me a note to have the Clone Bay update your eyes from Mark 1, Version 2.0 to Mark 2, Version 1.0. It took some time to modify your data."

"You what?" Charlie asked.

"You said you wanted to see the same way I do, to avoid confusing me for another Zoltan. So that's what we did" Trikko said, hugging Charlie who reluctantly hugged her back.

Trikko then explained what happened while Charlie was dead and reviving. The Grand Basilisk of the Numa Tribe had his forces try and tear the station apart while he fought Ruwen. The Envoy had spent a considerable effort to defend the scientists from being shattered.

She even showed him the cakes they baked as a way of saying thanks – they were made out of crystalline dust and had several rounded bitemarks in them as if she tried a taste-test. "The crystals themselves were rather problematic but they were filled with magical energy which made up for it."

Virus made several slashing motions with her tool arms. "I fought off several Rockmen until Translator informed me that we had to get back to the ship."

"I find that hard to believe" Charlie remarked.

"So did the Rocks. But after I killed the first two, the next group that came in were shocked to see their friends scattered all over the walls with an Engi standing in the middle of it all looking proud with her energy blade" Virus said "I felt like I should have said something witty but Translator killed them before I did."

"Enchanting wasn't it?" the Lanius remarked, sticking a metallic claw into one of the smaller hull breaches instead of his usual expulsion of hot metals. The blade cut itself off at just the right point when he lifted it and it seemingly welded itself to the breach.

"So what happened to Ruwen after he was executed? He's not in his tank" Charlie asked.

"Our Crystal friend left on his ship, along with Duna shortly after the battle was over" Slocknaw informed him.

"They did? But I was just getting to know them" Charlie said sadly.

"He did leave us a message thanking us for what we have done to help him. He says he'll try and contact the various Empires and their leaders and see what they can do to help the Federation out" he continued.

"But doesn't he have that code that tells him he's got to see the delivery through? What was that all about when we first told him of our mission?" Charlie asked.

The Slug gestured for him to follow and he led him to the Engine Room where a large crystalline device was hooked up to the FTL drive.

"His code said he'd help out a courier to the best of his ability. We've installed this drive from his cousin's collection that should take us straight to Federation Command. It's taken us a bit of time to install so for all we know, the Rebel Fleet is closing in on our position right at this moment" Slocknaw explained "But he believes the package is good as delivered and I can't really argue with that. He served the Federation well and I guess it's time to move on."

"So that's all sorted then? We deliver our package to Command and then what? We join a battlefleet and help fight off the Rebels?" Charlie asked "We go down in a blaze of glory after a job well-done?"

"I've got the same feeling Charlie. But let's hope we'll take down tons of Rebel bastards before we go" Slocknaw said, patting him on the side "This has been the best team I've worked with in all my life. We're a shining example of what happens when the Federation puts differences aside and works together to a greater goal."

"That's true. I'm quite amazed how we can all work together" Charlie said, looking back at the Wormhole Drive. "So when do we spin this up?"

Slocknaw put a hand to his head, nodded and then pointed to the console in the engine room. "Right now. The repairs are finished, the coordinates are set and the device is charged. We're ready to go."

Charlie saluted the Slug and eagerly activated the drive. In a flash of light a wormhole appeared in front of the Nesasio. Slocknaw said over the comms "Full speed ahead Virus. Make it so! Engage!"

The cruiser went through and instantly arrived in front of a surprised fleet of Federation cruisers on the other side, followed by a very speedy ID check before they finished locking missiles.


	10. Sector 8 - Last Stand - Special Delivery

**Sector 8 – The Last Stand – Special Delivery**

Slocknaw was feeling relieved that the Wormhole Drive had worked and that Federation Command was within range of the impulse engines. He could see a massive space station on the sensor screen with an equally massive green tinted shield surrounding it. He asked Charlie about the drive's status.

"Captain, I don't think the reactor can handle the power output of the Wormhole Drive. I don't think we should use it again unless we have to – the next jump could cause it and the reactor to overload" Charlie explained to Slocknaw, showing him the cracks in the crystalline plating.

"Just like detonating an FTL drive for self-destruction" the Slug said, chuckling nervously "If we run into trouble, we'll find a carrier or battleship and set it off."

A message came on Slocknaw's station indicating that the Nesasio's security codes had checked out with security. Then they were immediately hailed by the lead ship of the fleet – a green/yellow Vindicator-class Federation Cruiser tagged as "Nisos" on the tactical display. The space station was also joining in for a joint conference.

A room full of Humans, in light blue dress uniforms appeared on screen, gathered around a large table. A few Zoltans, an Engi, a granite-black Rockman and even a Mantis in light blue warpaint were also seated, all in their respective faction's uniforms and colours.

He also saw a big board with readouts of ship movements in the sector was covering one of the walls. Even with his poor eyesight, he couldn't see any mention of the Slug Trade Fleet. _They probably retreated back to their nebulae. No need to risk assets on something they believe is futile_, he thought to himself.

The feed from the Nisos showed a man with the emblem of a Federation Admiral. His nametag read "Tully."

"What is the meaning of this? Who are you?" he asked, tapping the side of the camera as if it was broken.

"Admiral Tully, I am Lieutenant Slocknaw, Acting-Captain of the Nesasio" Slocknaw said "I have the vital intelligence the Federation has entrusted me to keep secret from the enemy."

Several officers murmured in cynicism and disbelief. Some doubted the Slug was in any way trustworthy with carrying important intel – it may as well be considered worthless. The Engi stood up, its visor switching between red and green as its right arm went between a series of tools and a laser gun. "General Turzil, you have the floor" Tully stated.

"Intel suggests possible counter to Rebel technology. Risk all or save none" the Engi said in its monotone voice "Will require more input before formulation of battleplan. Have Slug deliver data."

"It's settled then. The Rebel fleet will be here in a matter of moments. I wish to talk to Slocknaw in private in my office" Tully said. A few officers protested but the Admiral insisted. "And let's hope the Botans did not sacrifice themselves in vain."

"Understood" Slocknaw said, closing the transmission and heading for the crew quarters. Apart from the Engi recharging stations, the quarters were hardly ever used for sleeping – he could see the dried slimy trails he left from when the ship first departed from the hangars.

_They ain't kidding when they say it'll take weeks to remove the mucus_, he thought to himself with a chuckle as he reached behind one of the recharging stations and retrieved a black canister from a hidden compartment.

"I deliver this to Command and it's all over. We've won and the Rebellion is finished" he said determinedly. He thought about what he'd do after the war, how the Federation might reward him.

He pictured a ceremony inside a grand hall with crowds of onlookers cheering as he moved down the middle. Admiral Tully would hand him a medal after a grand speech of the Slug's accomplishments in saving the Federation and maybe a speech about working together to achieve a greater goal. _Perhaps he'd give me a few purple medals for all the wounds_, he thought to himself, looking at his undamaged body.

The Admiral would then pass medals to the crew, except Translator who'd stood at the front and make loud screeching noises for the sake of doing so.

He shook his head and tucked the canister inside his outfit, between several folds of his slimy skin as he headed to the airlock with the rest of the crew as the Nesasio came in to dock. One couldn't be too careful even in home territory.

People were running in various directions towards waiting cruisers and shuttles in preparation to refit, rearm and resupply Federation vessels. Most of the ships in the hangar were Zoltan cruisers of various classes or torus-shaped Engi ships that resembled piles of junk loosely held together.

Several Marines in bulky armoured suits were waiting outside the Nesasio's airlock for the crew to step out. "Captain Slocknaw, the Admiral is waiting for you. Follow us" one of them said.

The Slug looked to the rest of the crew "Be on your best behaviour. The brass will be watching."

Charlie looked at the Marine's armour and said "Damn, why can't we have suits like that?"

The crew then split up at a large intersection to take some shore leave while Slocknaw was debriefed. Some of the technicians stopped to stare at the entourage marching down the corridors (others stopped to mop up the Slug's slimy mucus trail to avoid accidents.)

Slocknaw casually scanned the minds around him as he went to Tully's office. He was picking up some interesting thoughts from a Zoltan officer inside (although that same officer was thinking out loud). "Sir, we can't let him in! He'll see everything! He'll see the big board!"

"You will be silent Commander Buck or I will throw you off this station. I know Slocknaw, he was part of a very successful exchange program with the Trade Fleet. His recent promotion to Captain is quite justified in this desperate time" Tully shouted back.

"Justified? Have you not heard what the Trade Fleet said?" Buck protested "If those cowards ever come back, they'll be on the side of the Rebellion! He should not be trusted with vital intelligence let alone be in charge of a Federation vessel!"

"I doubt the Rebellion would ever want to ally with the very aliens they were protesting about" Slocknaw said, entering the room "That would be very hypocritical of them. But then again, you Zoltans should know a whole lot about hypocrisy."

The Zoltan officer made a scoffing sound. Slocknaw continued "And as far as the records are concerned, the Nesasio is registered to the Engi Brigade. You know very well those machines don't have thoughts that can be read by my mind, so they wouldn't feel threatened by my telepathic powers. Are you not close allies?"

Commander Buck glared before leaving the office in a huff. "If you think you can have your officers give me that sort of attitude, I'll have my superiors to withdraw the support of the ZRPC. I have better things to do than to be insulted!"

"Don't let the door slam you on the way out" Tully shouted back cheerfully. He muttered "Pretentious bastard."

Slocknaw saluted "If he's serious, I have an Envoy who can talk to the ZRPC."

"They'll not withdraw support just because one of their officers is displeased" Tully said, returning the salute "Commander Buck just thinks he's more important than he actually is."

The Slug then handed the intel canister over and said "It's been a long journey for my crew. I certainly hope that what we've done will turn the tide of the war."

Tully gestured for Slocknaw to find a place to sit or stand "Don't worry my friend, I'm sure you and your crew are just as anxious as we all are to find out just what the Botan Network uncovered about the Rebel Fleet."

"I presume we're on a special ops assignment now that we're here?" Slocknaw asked. Tully nodded and asked how he knew that. "If we weren't, we'd already have been assigned to a battlegroup and sent off to an ailing front with our superior firepower."

The Admiral handed the canister to a Federation Bureau of Intelligence agent who entered the office. The agent briefly felt disgusted by handling the sticky package before saluting and leaving the room to analyse the materials.

"You presume correctly Slocknaw. You've seen a lot of action against the Rebel Fleet and I'd hate to see it go to waste, especially with your ship. You and your crew are on standby until we can get that intel analysed" Tully explained, pouring a drink of something slimy and offering the glass to Slocknaw.

"You really think it'll change the outcome of the war?" the Slug asked.

"It's a long-shot, but at this moment, a long-shot is all we have to avoid being wiped out" Tully said, pouring a glass for himself. "The galaxy will be a better place if we all stand together as one, rather than divided as many."

"You know, my brother used to lace my wine glass with heavy anaesthetics. I'd wake up with my money stolen or carrying someone's kid. Sometimes both" Slocknaw replied, casually sipping the drink.

The Admiral didn't know whether to laugh or be concerned. "Sorry sir, I was making a joke. But I do wish I had hired a Rock bodyguard" the Slug added "It's good to have a drink of this stuff without having to worry if someone laced it with poison."

Tully smiled and raised his glass "I'm certain there's an interesting story as to how your crew came to be, Slocknaw…"

The Slug started "Well it all started with a desolate moon…"

For the next few days, the analysts poured over the intel and formulated a strategy for the Federation fleets. Charlie Smith and Envoy Trikko were standing inside one of the base's hangars where fighters and bombers were being brought in for repairs.

Nearly every Zoltan officer with a problem or concern went to see the Envoy for advice or for blessings. Charlie found it amusing at first, but after the fifth or sixth officer he got annoyed. "Aren't there other Envoys they could be seeing for this sort of thing?" he asked her.

"There are. I just made the mistake of showing myself here" Trikko laughed before informing a Zoltan Captain that his choice of ship was perfectly justified.

Charlie nodded "No need for a special uniform or identity card when you certainly have a brighter glow than any of the other officers here."

He then pointed to a Federation Scout-chassis being refitted with new engines. "Well you said you wanted to see some of the classics. That's a relic of the Mantis/Federation War. My father probably had refitted that craft's engines when it was in active service."

"Most of the newer vessels were stolen by the Rebels" Trikko remarked, pointing to a Rebel Fighter-chassis in Federation colours. "Although it's not the chassis that matters. It's the loadout" she continued, both to Charlie and to another officer who proudly cited being a Captain of a Cerenkov-Class Zoltan Cruiser.

"Still, it says something about how desperate we are to win this war if we're using old museum pieces with the latest technology" Charlie remarked "I saw a Kestrel being refitted in the cruiser repair station."

"Sometimes old is best" Trikko said, looking to the Zoltan officer. "No offence but I recommend anything but the Cerenkov. Even the Noether is a better choice."

She sighed, remarking to Charlie "The ZRPC expects the crew to manage power distribution themselves for that ship, because they couldn't afford to give it a decent reactor. Then the idiots in charge decide "Hey let's give this beam drones and ion weapons" and wonder why casualties are so high. It's just too cripplingly flawed – even if they just went the opposite route, there would be fewer casualties."

"What about the Nesasio when I first came onboard? That was cripplingly flawed. It had no proper shield system, a psychotic leader running it and a cloaking device that didn't run for longer periods of time. We should have been torn apart in a solar wind" Charlie said "But now look at us…"

"I'd say we were lucky. This conversation would not be happening if it wasn't because of that" Trikko said, closing her eyes. "When I meditate, I can see images of ships burning. Cruisers with tasks as dangerous as ours… some explode from critical damage while others just vanish, like they never existed."

Charlie put a reassuring hand on her shoulder "Those I'm sure were just visions of possible outcomes and we've avoided them. We're here now and that's more important Trikko. Not echoes of the past or present or future or whatever timelines you believe in"

"Charlie…" the Zoltan started just as an Engi approached them.

"Message: Envoy Trikko, presence requested. Location: Situation Room" it said calmly. Before Trikko could ask it anything else, the machine had already walked away having completed its task and moving on to the next one.

"Good thing you know where everything is on the base" Charlie remarked sardonically "I mean what if we had to ask it a question?"

Trikko laughed "Come on, let's see what the Federation has uncovered."

Virus #247-12 shook her head as she was discussing matters with Translator. They were standing at an uplink terminal where several Engi platforms were connected to it and by extension, the Engi Hive-Mind.

"I think General Turzil saw through my clever ruse" Virus said in the harmonic Crystal language to avoid eavesdropping.

"I don't see the problem. After you told Turzil that Virus #247-12 had been purged from your platform, the meeting went well" Translator said tapping a claw against one of the idle platforms as if expecting it to wake up and start shooting. "Although once you started speaking in Engi, it got a bit too rapid for me to keep up."

"I told him that I was a displaced warship intelligence residing in Metfel's platform. It's only a matter of time before he looks up the truth and purges me for accidentally deleting his daughter" Virus said, shaking her head in shame.

Translator rubbed a claw against his head in uneasiness "Oh. Now I can see that being a serious problem seriously fast. Even for machines like you, family-bonds are important. You think the Engi-Lanius logic bomb would work on him?"

"His programming would include anti-paradox crumple zones" Virus explained "Not only that, he has thousands of different war scenarios programmed into him. He'd be armed for any sort of conflict, both physical and theoretical. The Humans like to nickname him "General Ripper" behind his back."

Translator chuckled at that reference. "He might want to shoot me for stealing his precious air" the Lanius remarked.

"You know that Mantis that sat in on our meeting?" Virus asked. Translator shook his head. "That's the emissary of Swarm Queen Qulekalez. Turzil bested her children in single combat and in exchange for sparing their lives, she pledged her swarm's allegiance to the Federation. I couldn't do that by myself if I tried."

The uplink terminal flashed as one of the Engi platforms reactivated, cables retracting into its body and the visor glowing a bright blue. It looked to Virus and stated in the Engi language "Query: Engi Brigade Warship Tetragon?"

"Why do you ask?" Virus requested in Galactic "Because I don't need a system update or to be reconnected to the Hive-Mind."

The Engi said something about her vocalisations being inefficient before stating "Build Routine 721" and walking away, having completed his task. Virus asked "Hang on a minute, why the rush? I've got questions."

The Engi stopped and turned "Further inquiries? Proceed" Virus could tell the Engi was annoyed at having his next task interrupted despite the polite monotone.

"Query: Build Routine 721?" Translator asked, speaking in the rapid mathematical language of the Engies.

The Engi looked at the Lanius, probably amused at the scavenger knowing how to speak. "No data found" it said, turning and walking away quicker than before.

"They're not ones for conversation, that's certain" Virus remarked as the speakers then announced the base was preparing to jump.

The lights dimmed to an ominous red as everything was shutting down across the base. "I guess someone didn't want to spend money on a decent reactor core" she commented "Or the reactor is already overtaxed."

The Engies connected to the terminal then detached themselves as their connection to the Hive-Mind was disrupted. As soon as their visors powered up, their arms had deployed into laser guns. They fired several shots at Virus only to have her shield modulator swing her barrier to behind her platform, absorbing the shots as they impacted with great precision.

"Purge!" the Engies shouted, marching forwards like a horde of zombies while ignoring the Lanius. Translator rubbed his claws together in confusion "Should we bother with these lunatics?"

"Obviously someone has reprogrammed these Engies to fight while the power is down. Give it a few more seconds" Virus said, raising a hand and counting down. When she reached one, there was a sudden shift of gravity as the FTL drive engaged, instantly sending the base to another beacon.

The lights then came back online as power was restored to all systems. The Engies immediately looked around the area in confusion, citing time lapse errors as their arms turned back into tools.

"I think we should find somewhere else to take our conversations" Virus remarked, heading away from the area "You said something about a special project on the Nesasio…"

Charlie was checking out the crews of other starships that had arrived for the briefing in the Situation Room. Most of them were Humans, including some with unusual skin tones such as purple and green. He also saw a Zoltan or two carrying the air of high authority, but with very light power signatures.

The only familiar faces he knew in the room were Trikko and Slocknaw – thanks to their testimonies he was allowed to sit in on the briefing, as it was highly classified.

He was seated behind a particularly obnoxious (although somewhat radiant) Zoltan named Commander Buck who would criticise everything about Tully at inopportune times and find some way to pin the blame on the Slugs.

To Charlie, the most interesting sights in the room though were an Engi platform wearing the chitin of a Mantis as a bandolier and a Mantis standing next to it, wearing the parts of an Engi over his chitinous hide.

Trikko said they were part of a mercenary group called the "Mantis Hunters." They hunted those from KazaaakplethKilik's brood and would occasionally take on contracts to destroy rogue Virus enclaves.

"Ladies and gentlemen, time is running out" Admiral Tully said, pointing to a schematic of a massive ship on the display in the middle of the room. An Agent from the Federation Bureau of Intelligence stood at attention next to it.

Captain Slocknaw thought to himself, _Those deserters were not kidding about the ship's existence, but they were about the size. I was expecting something as big as their thoughts said it was. That's not even as big as a battleship_.

"Our analysts in the FBI have determined that this ship, uncreatively named The Rebel Flagship is the weakness of the Rebel Fleet" he explained, bringing up several pictures of Rebellion officers to overlay the schematic.

"Flagship is an easier term to swallow" The agent spoke up "Considering who and what's onboard."

Tully nodded "Thank you for that Agent Mannon. Anyway, apart from being the location of the top brass, the Flagship is a central command hub for the automated ships the Rebels like to throw at us. Without it, the machine fleet will become drastically less effective as their communications and coordination will be cut. This flagship and its destruction will singlehandedly turn the tide of the war."

"That's their conclusion?" Commander Buck spoke up "We destroy the biggest ship in their fleet and everyone and everything about the Rebellion is finished? Sounds like a trap!"

"The intel was very extensive" Agent Mannon countered "We're still going through the huge amount of data and this summary is the best we can provide at this moment. A lot of their resources went into the construction of the ship and the Rebels were very determined to make sure no one knew about it. They even killed all the staff involved in the construction."

He showed a picture of a starship construction facility with the Human scientists, guards, soldiers and engineers slumped against consoles, bleeding from every orifice possible.

"Obviously the intel had been tampered with by that Slug!" Buck shouted "There's no way someone would be so stupid as to…"

He was interrupted by Charlie smashing an elbow into the back of the Zoltan's head.

"How dare you strike a superior officer, Human! I will see you court-martialled for this insubordination!" Buck cried in pain as his hands crackled with energy in anger.

Charlie was about to say something to shut the Zoltan up when Tully interrupted "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here, this is the Situation Room! Commander Buck, you are out of line with insulting an officer of the Federation. You've used up your last warning."

"I didn't want to take part in this meeting anyway! Full of incompetent idiots! Good day!" Buck shouted, storming out of the room.

Tully sighed and said in a bored tone "Ensign Charlie Smith, Federation law says you will be court-martialled for striking a superior officer once this is over. So put on something nice."

Trikko whispered to Charlie "I'll pull some strings and have you acquitted in a few days. Much less if it's a Zoltan court."

With the distraction removed, Tully resumed the briefing. He zoomed out the display, showing the fleet around the Flagship. "The Flagship of course is heavily defended by a massive escort fleet. We will need to commit a lot of assets into distracting them while we send someone to engage them directly. We need at least one cruiser to get into teleporter range."

Mannon brought up several pictures of the ship's interior and said "Apart from the top brass, security forces are a skeleton crew – not even a combat drone. But there's a possibility of the fleets sending in their own troops to reinforce the Flagship's defences or teleporting the Generals and Admirals out in anticipation of boarders, so be careful."

The Mantis Officer spoke up "Those foolish meatsacks will behold the Mantis swarms in all its glory as we destroy their pathetic fleet through blood and claw!"

"Concur with Qulekalez Swarm Emissary" General Turzil said "Fleet and Flagship overrun by Mantis swarms in prolonged firefight. Mission appears unnecessary."

Tully shook his head "The Qulekalez Swarm will be engaging Rebel assets on the Steel Rain Front. This will hopefully serve as a suitable distraction and divert forces away from the Flagship's escort fleet. Take some pressure off everyone else to make this risky plan work."

The Mantis chittered with excitement "The fight comes to us rather than having to seek it out!"

Tully looked to the gathered ship Captains. "Your orders are to take your cruisers into the heart of the fleet and stop the Flagship by any means necessary. Above all else, you must stop the Flagship. Nothing else matters. If you fail, this could spell the end of the Federation."

"A suicide mission in other words" a Human with the nametag of Rebekah spoke up. "Our last stand before we disappear into the darkness? I'm all for it. The Kruos is a fine ship and the Lanius are fine people to fight alongside as we fight for the Federation's survival."

"You're only saying that because you've got a Clone Bay" a Kestrel Captain chimed in.

"My fellow officers. Think of this as not the Last Stand of the Federation but the Last Stand of the whole galaxy. There are those amongst us who might not think the Federation is perfect but it's a lot better than having those damned Rebels in charge" Tully concluded "You have your orders, dismissed."

As everyone began to stand up and leave, a young Commander ran into the Situation Room waving a datapad. "Admiral, news from the Black Front! They've been overrun! Rebel ships are jumping into this sector by the thousands! There's a large ship leading them!"

The datapad showed a vague silhouette of a ship matching the profile of the Flagship on the display.

"Crap. Get the station to Combat Alert Alpha and prepare to jump as soon as possible" Tully shouted "I want everyone at their stations and at their ships. I want a squad of Marines on every cruiser and everyone provided with the best combat gear. We must not fall!"

Everyone immediately double-timed it towards their stations. Charlie asked Slocknaw "Did he say combat gear? Because if he means what I think he means…"

The Slug looked at his own datapad and his eyestalks perked up in excitement. "Yes he does. Hell it's about damned time!"


	11. Sector 8 - Last Stand - Flagship Product

**Sector 8 – Last Stand – Flagship Product**

The Nesasio arrived at the next beacon with several other cruisers ahead and behind them. There were a wide range of vessels from all different parts of the Federation. From the torus-shaped Engi vessels, the oddly-shaped Zoltan Cruisers and even a knife-like Lanius vessel and a few Shivian Class Rock Cruisers made appearances.

Slocknaw was checking the Sector Map. Several beacons were flashing as they turned into hotspots of furious combat as Federation forces pulled back or were overrun. He tried not to think about how many lives were being lost in those areas, focusing on the lives that would be saved.

One beacon in particular displayed "Last Known Position" with a rotating icon of a massive ship. Above the map was an indicator giving an estimated time before the Flagship would be in range of the Federation base.

"36 hours" he commented, checking the secondary timer until the Federation base could safely jump away. "40 hours." _Even if all the Zoltans onboard diverted their energies to the shields, it wouldn't even last an hour against such a large fleet_, he thought worriedly.

Ahead of the Nesasio was a battle already in progress around the exit node – Federation ships were engaging Rebel ships at infeasible ranges. "Something must have gone horribly wrong if they can look out the viewports and see their target in front of them" Charlie remarked as he tweaked with the engines, diverting power from the main drive to the manoeuvring thrusters.

As the Nesasio ducked and weaved across lines of fire and missiles, he added "But at these ranges it's essentially fighting with knives. No artillery, no ASBs. Straight up shooting with the guns."

"Destroy the Rebel fleet!" Captain Rebekah shouted over the battlegroup's channel before moving her Lanius cruiser ahead of the Nesasio "We must secure the exit node!"

The Slug assumed Admiral Tully had put her in charge of the fleet or at least would be the one to point the ships in the right direction.

A distress signal went over the comms from one of the larger Federation ships trying to escape from the scene. A quick scan revealed it to be a badly-damaged colony ship taking fire from a single Rebel fighter that was roughly half the size of the Nesasio. _Probably sent as an afterthought while the main battle rages_, Slocknaw thought to himself.

The scans also showed that the ship's life support was rapidly failing. "Help us! We've got families and wounded onboard!"

Slocknaw lowered his eyestalks as a frown. "I'm going to save those civilians" he announced to the other cruisers before breaking formation "I'll catch up with you later."

"Good luck Nesasio. We'll try to save some Rebels for you once you're done playing hero" Rebekah said before continuing her messages of bravado to the rest of the cruiser fleet. "Come on you sons of bitches! Do you want to live forever?"

The Nesasio's wings went into a combat position and Slocknaw hailed the Rebel fighter "Hey bastard! Pick on someone who can fight back!"

Seeing the cruiser heading towards it, the fighter broke off from its run on the colony ship. "I don't care who you are but no one defies the Rebel Fleet!" their Captain shouted over the comms. The Slug swore he heard that pompous accent before.

"Wait a second, you're that jerk from Aquarius!" Virus #247-12 interjected.

"And you're that ship!" The pompous Rebel exclaimed "I will take great pleasure in smashing your pathetic cruiser into dust!"

He opened fire on the Nesasio, only to have his shots either missing the ship completely or depleting the shields in his barrage. The stealth cruiser locked on to the fighter and began charging weapons.

The dual lasers fired first, missing the target completely, followed by both the Glaive Beam and the mining laser which swept over the target's shields. Slocknaw cursed loudly before quickly recalibrating the mining laser's targeting system for a more focused strike.

Virus reported a Breach Missile being launched and engaged the phase-cloak just as the projectile was about to impact with the ship. It passed straight through and out the other side to be destroyed by an ASB projectile that buzzed past the cruiser.

A new transmission came in over the channel, yet it happened to also be the same pompous accent of the officer in the fighter. "This is Rebel Bombardment Cruiser "Deadly Bacon" moving in to provide ASB support. And to you, Nesasio. I don't care who you are, but no one defies the Rebel fleet! Target their engines!"

"Deadly Bacon?" Charlie asked, trying not to laugh "What the hell kind of a name is that?"

The other Rebel didn't sound too happy about the ASB support either as he argued back and forth with the cruiser, citing he had the targets handled and the ASB would get in his way. _It's like they're talking to themselves_, Slocknaw thought to himself as shots were still flying towards the Nesasio.

"Virus, they're going to bracket us into a killzone once we drop out of cloak" Charlie warned as the shots came dangerously close to the Nesasio "I don't like the look of that glow."

The Nesasio's dual lasers missed the fighter yet again while the mining laser cut through the shields and into the generator, piercing straight through and out the other side. The craft still held strong though – while the room was reported to be damaged on the screen, the shields didn't seem to appear to be any weaker.

"If I can just get these lasers to hit their target, this will all be over" Slocknaw said as the phase-cloak dropped and the hostile cruiser's projectiles started becoming more accurate. One of them smashed straight into one of the wings and tore it off the ship, almost taking the mining laser with it.

"Something tells me that we can't just buff it out" Charlie commented.

Once the guns were ready, the Nesasio fired again just as the fighter slowed down to take a sharp turn to avoid friendly fire. The dual lasers depleted two layers of shield, followed by the mining laser smashing into their shield generator.

While the crews scrambled to fix the damage, the Glaive Beam swept over the hull, causing explosions to ripple across the ship, tearing the Rebel fighter apart into scrap. The Nesasio then shook from one of the cruiser's ASB shots impacting into the hull from below. The shot overpenetrated the plating and came straight out the other side.

"Damage report!" Slocknaw shouted, knowing that this impact was more dangerous. He saw the cloaking device had finished cooling down at that moment and was ready to activate.

Translator replied grimly "They blasted straight through the Clone Bay."

"Well at least it wasn't the engines" the Slug said with a nervous chuckle before adding "Those ASB shots are calibrated for bigger targets than us. They could take down a battleship with that kind of firepower or… oh crap!"

The projectile barrage had stopped as the Rebel cruiser changed direction until it was pointing its guns at the crippled colony ship. "Nothing personal but I have new orders to destroy that ship full of Federation loyalists first" the Rebel cruiser Captain said scathingly "We're better than your pathetic little ship, so just try and stop us!"

A Lanius cruiser spun into position in front of the ship, flak guns charged. The Rebel officer said "I don't care who you are but…"

There were a series of explosions as the Lanius ship fired the flak guns, cutting off the officer's last words and tearing the cruiser apart with high speed projectiles and debris. The vessel quickly turned away from the explosion with minimal damage.

"I figured you could have used a hand" Rebekah said to Slocknaw.

The colony ship sent a message to the ships "Thank you for saving us. This ship is transporting Federation civilians on the run from the Rebellion and we don't have the equipment to fight for ourselves. I don't have much to offer, but we were planning on setting up a repair station at Federation Command to assist once we get these refugees offloaded."

"Much appreciated. Stay safe" Slocknaw said as the Nesasio moved away. The battle around the beacon had died down – thanks to the intervention of the other cruisers, the exit was secured and the fleet was heading through.

The Nesasio did a quick salvage run of the wreckage of the destroyed ships before heading towards the exit beacon node – the damaged Federation fleets were retreating.

At the next beacon, there was another chaotic battle between the Federation and Rebellion fleets as they fought for control over a highly volcanic planet. Debris from a black Shivian-Class Rock-Cruiser flew past them as a Rebel cruiser lobbed an ASB projectile at the beacon.

Several Federation cruisers opened fire with Vindicator artillery in response, tearing the ship apart as their beams swept through. Virus had to keep track of the laser paths and projectile trajectories as they moved between both fleets. The Flagship was estimated to arrive shortly.

The Federation-aligned cruisers picked their own targets of opportunity all around them while they waited – transport ships, missile frigates and bomber wings were engaged.

Slocknaw set his sights on a large Rebel battlecruiser three times the size of the Nesasio that was bombarding the planet's surface with missiles. A large section of planet below it was scorched. _Almost as if someone had ignited the atmosphere and… holy crap, just like that planet in Aquarius!_ He thought to himself grimly.

A massive torus-shaped Engi vessel then jumped into the system and opened fire with ion weapons and a swarm of bright-white drones the size of the Rebel's automated ships. The battlecruiser hardly stood a chance.

"Holy crap! I've never seen that class of ship before! Do we have flagships of our own?" Charlie asked in shock.

"That's General Turzil's carrier, [PURITY OF CODE]." Envoy Trikko said, pronouncing the brackets quite succinctly "It's the largest ship in the Engi Brigade. It seems we're pulling out all the stops here."

She then pointed to a large green and asymmetric battleship that shortly arrived into the system, along with several smaller ships. "And that one is the Tyson, the largest ship in the Zoltan Resource Protection Committee and the second-largest in the Zoltan Empire."

"Second largest?" Charlie asked, imagining just what would be more powerful than that.

"The Gutei is the largest, but that battleship went missing a long time ago on a voyage to Abadoth" Trikko explained "It's still registered on official records though."

"Typical Zoltan Empire bureaucracy" Charlie laughed.

Admiral Tully appeared on the screen. "All capital ships, the enemy flagship has jumped!" he shouted. "The fleet will be arriving in your system shortly. All capital ships, engage the Rebel fleet. Cruisers, proceed to your objective. At least one of you is needed to get through!"

The Federation ships began forming around the flagships, creating a giant sphere as they faced the bulk of the Rebel fleet around the beacon node. There was a massive disturbance of gravity and the already-massive Rebel fleet was reinforced by an even larger fleet of ships, both manned orange ships and black automated ships.

They spread out in a cone-like fashion before forming a massive cube around a central target – a large warship bristling with weapons. _This is it! The Rebel Flagship! There's no turning back now!_ Slocknaw thought to himself before saying to the crew of the Nesasio "We're going in! Get tactical!"

A series of shots phased straight through the Nesasio as it cloaked and moved through the Rebel fleet. A massive blue beam swept through several Rebel ships from the Zoltan flagship to assist the cruisers.

However, just before the Nesasio could approach the Rebel flagship in the very centre of the formation, a large Rebel battleship stood in their path. "I don't care who you are but no one defies the Rebel fleet!" said a very snooty accented Rebellion officer.

"Seriously?" Slocknaw asked with a massive groan of annoyance. "Can't you clone someone else?"

The Nesasio's guns and several Vindicator Artillery Beams from support vessels fired at the errant battleship. They tore a massive hole in the side of the warship's hull and the stealth cruiser flew through it, leaving a large explosion of debris and bodies behind.

Other Federation ships came alongside the Nesasio – Vindicator-Class Cruisers, Zoltan Adjudicators and even an Engi Vortex Cruiser. They all faced the Flagship before them. Before the Rebel fleet could turn to annihilate the cruisers, the Rebel leader came on the comms – as a black silhouette on a dark screen.

Slocknaw was surprised to say the least – he was expecting another snooty officer just to spite him.

"All ships, focus on the other Federation ships. We can handle these ships ourselves!" The Rebel leader said in a gravelly voice, much like a Rockman before addressing the cruisers "Do you really think your pathetic ships have a chance at stopping the Rebellion?"

"We're willing to die trying to find that part out" Slocknaw boasted. The other ships shared the same sentiment. "Non-functionality preferred option to servitude to Rebellion" the Engi operating the Vortex stated.

"No single species should have all the power in the galaxy. The might of a united Federation stands before you!" Slocknaw shouted.

He gestured to everyone "Humans, Slugs, Zoltan, Engies and Lanius. We have Rockmen and Mantises allied with us. The galaxy needs to be united as one, not separated by this reckless conflict." _Great, now I'm thinking like a Zoltan_, Slocknaw thought to himself.

"You Federation scum keep spending too much time playing pioneer that you neglected your internal problems. Was it not the Federation that provided the Mantis with the FTL drive?" the Rebel leader explained harshly as the rest of the Rebel fleet moved on ahead without the Flagship. Only a few capital ships remained to watch for any surprises.

"The Mantis/Federation War could have been avoided centuries ago if you just let those insects die on their overcrowded homeworld" the Rebel continued, moving his silhouette in closer. The Slug could make out vague facial features in the darkness, as well as something shiny. _He's definitely a Human_, the Slug thought to himself.

"Then when pirates started raiding outer colonies in greater numbers, did the Federation save them?" the Rebel continued "Or did they just hide behind their coreworlds, not wanting to scratch their precious firepower?"

"That one isn't the Federation's fault" Slocknaw protested "Especially when it was YOU who funded the pirates!"

"Even before then, the pirates were getting bolder. The Mantis Swarms were getting more numerous" the Rebel said "But no, you Federation scum didn't care about that. You had more confusing laws to make, more Zoltans to appease and more useless stars to explore."

He laughed "Then your leaders decided that Slugs should be given equal footing. Slimes like you with the power to lead others. Humanity might as well hand over everything to you slimy bastards before they'd be compelled to."

The Slug leaned in closer to his screen, lowering his eyestalks in a glare "You shouldn't have told your fleet to back off. Because I'm going to come over there and rip your damned throat out."

"The teleport's locked on" Virus informed Slocknaw.

"Oh how cute. The Slug and the Engi thinks they can threaten us" the Rebel leader laughed, his voice booming across all channels. "Playtime is over. Go jump into a star and save yourself the trouble of being wiped out by our impressive array of firepower. I hope your intel at least picked that up."

The cruisers opened fire on the Flagship, sending a barrage of lasers, missiles and beams across the shields. The Rebel vessel shrugged off the attacks or avoided them before retaliating.

Virus said "Missile launches detected. Taking evasive action!"

The Rebel leader laughed in a guttural growl. "Witness your doom!"

The cruisers quickly dived away from the incoming missiles as explosions went off rapidly throughout space. Occasionally a cruiser would take damage from a missile strike they couldn't evade. The Flagship would then pummel it with a barrage of lasers, ion blasts and a powerful, sweeping set of Glaive Beams.

The Nesasio shook from an unexpected impact and the blast doors to the weapon's control room began sparking before sealing shut. A nearby console displayed the words "System Disabled by…" followed by the Rebel's eagle symbol and "Have a nice day."

There was a loud whirring noise behind him, followed by heavy footsteps as Translator came stomping to the doors dressed in dark power armour. The Lanius wordlessly forced the doors open with his claws and held them open so the Slug could get through.

Once he was through, Translator closed the doors behind him "I volunteer for the boarding operation."

The Slug nodded and brought up a hologram of the Flagship schematic for the crew's benefit. He pointed to four locations on the ship – they were labelled "Weapon's Control Station" and had a connection to a large series of guns on the flagship's hull.

"I've overlaid the FBI's schematics of the flagship with our current scans and the layouts match almost perfectly" he explained, pointing to Translator.

"For the moment, we're the only ship here with a working teleporter, so we have to board them" Slocknaw said "We will be taking fire from friendlies, but hopefully it won't affect our objectives."

"You will take the forward starboard side station. Lifesigns are minimal but be on your guard for surprises. We have to move quickly, those missiles will be our greatest threat" he continued.

Translator nodded and teleported off the Nesasio and onto the Rebel flagship. The Nesasio shook as one of the flagship's missiles exploded near the hull. The Flagship then opened fire with a massive barrage to which Virus quickly phased the ship to avoid.

The flagship visually dropped off the screen as well. "The Flagship can phase-cloak!?" Slocknaw yelled in surprise.

"That would take a lot of power for a vessel that size" Charlie remarked grimly as the Flagship then fired a barrage of missiles and lasers, the projectiles materialising from empty space.

"That is not right!" Virus complained.

He looked to Charlie and said "You're with me Charlie. We'll be taking out the Glaive Beams on the outwards starboard station. I want you suited up and ready to go as soon as they drop their cloak! We have to destroy those beams!"

Charlie asked "Sir, shouldn't you be taking Trikko on this one or Virus?"

"Trikko is needed to keep the shields powered up" Slocknaw said, pointing to the outward portside station. "That's an ion blaster launcher. We cannot afford to lose our shields to ion damage."

"And Virus needs to fly the ship" Charlie said with a sigh.

"Normally most people would be excited at the prospect of suiting up in power armour. You certainly were when we left Command" Slocknaw said.

"I then had a look at what I was supposed to be wearing and realised that I'm not rated for power armour operations, especially the heavy suits. They never covered it in Basic either" Charlie explained.

"I see" Slocknaw said, handing the Ensign several satchel charges "Stay behind me then and I'll cover you while you plant the explosives."

Charlie looked at the explosives and asked "How long should I set the timers for?"

The Slug chuckled "There are no timers. We set some charges and detonate them before we bug out." He quickly went to the cargo hold to retrieve his own combat gear.

What returned to the teleporter room was a large, Rock-sized armoured bubble with two robotic arms attached to the sides and a pair of heavy laser cannons. Charlie gave a whistle of approval.

The Flagship had dropped back into normal-space. There was a flash of light and the two were on the Rebel Flagship, surrounded by metal bulkheads and rows of shiny-looking computer screens.

Charlie placed a satchel charge on a nearby workstation as a Rebel soldier jumped out of a nearby supply closet shouting "I don't care who are are…"

The Rebel didn't even have time to pull the trigger before Slocknaw's armoured bubble had shot him with several rapid-fire heavy laser blasts into the chest.

"Room clear" Slocknaw announced.

"Same on our end. Single Rebel soldier. Greeted us with a tone of outrage at us defying the Rebel fleet" Translator responded, followed by the sound of machinery breaking as a metallic claw smashed through items. "And I just found a cloning tube in the supply closet."

"I'm getting a strange tingling feeling by being on this ship. The sort I used to get whenever I was close to Virus" he added

"Maybe they've got Engies being forced to work on the ship?" Slocknaw suggested, reaching out with his mind. All he could sense were Humans.

"You think this change anything?" the Rebel leader asked on the Flagship's speakers. "Those stations and their crews were redundant anyway!"

Slocknaw shouted for Charlie to detonate the charges. As soon as he did so, the two were teleported back onto the Nesasio. The Flagship had cloaked as soon as they were off.

Several explosions rippled across the hull as weapons began separating from the ship. Missiles exploded in their tubes, the Glaive Beams broke apart and the laser cannons started overheating and melting.

The cloak failed, revealing itself as it tried to replace the damaged guns with new guns. The Glaive Beams were ejected and replaced with a single, weaker Halberd. The other weapons stations seemed to undergo structural failure, leaving them with fewer guns than before.

"You may have cut off our firepower significantly but we've done the same to yours!" the Rebel leader taunted "Bring it on Slug!"

There were more explosions rocking the flagship, presumably as Translator was tearing places apart before being teleported back to the Nesasio.

The Rebel leader looked to the side "What!? Shut it down! We're not finished with the Federation scum! Now go away, I'm about to taunt them a…"

The Flagship's portside "wing" began undergoing structural failure, sparking and rippling across the ship before violently exploding into scrap. The ship's FTL drive immediately powered up and performed an emergency jump away from the battlefield, leaving a very visible exit trace, as if it had torn through the fabric of space itself to get away.


	12. Sector 8 - Last Stand - Power Surge

**Sector 8 – Last Stand – Power Surge Detected**

The Nesasio pulled back to Command for quick repairs. Slocknaw positioned the cruiser next to a large colony ship that had been hastily refitted with repair arms and waited for the crews to do their work.

"Flagship's ETA is 30 hours" the Slug muttered, looking at the sector map. "We need to press the attack before they fix themselves up as well."

"Captain, I'm sending to your console something that's freaking me out" Charlie said nervously over the comms "You really need to see it."

An image of a massive red-coloured cruiser appeared on the screen. "What the hell is that ship?" the Slug asked "It looks like a Mantis vessel but nothing I've ever seen before."

Charlie explained "I'd recognise that ship anywhere. The hull is cobbled together from several different Mantis ships and it looks like the drives are ripped an old Federation Hawk-Class Cruiser."

He tried to remain calm and took a deep breath. "It's the Gila Monster, KazaaakplethKilik's ship!"

Slocknaw gave an audible gulp "And it's just sitting there by Command? Has the war turned so badly that even our long-time enemy is joining forces?"

"I certainly hope not!" Charlie snarled "He can't be allowed to live. Especially after what he did to the galaxy. There's no way he can ever make up for it!"

"Well he could renounce his ways of violence, donate his worldly possessions to charity and seek penance with the Order for the next hundred years" Envoy Trikko chimed in, much to Charlie's shock.

"You'd be surprised how many Mantises have done that" the Zoltan continued cheerfully "KlornaaakMilith the Bloodied was the poster-child example... he did a lot more to the galaxy than KazaaakplethKilik and he redeemed himself through a life of non-violence and generousity."

Charlie shook his head "You did not witness what I saw on the Condor. He killed all of the colonists or took them into slavery. He let his kids pick out the best people for nesting grounds."

"KlornaaakMilith would have done a lot worse – he was a warlord by nature and very violent, very brutal" Trikko said "He would torture people for weeks before killing them just for the sheer thrills."

"Of course he made plenty of enemies in the process so when they caught up to him, he fled to Zoltan space and tried hiding in a monastery. He learned to hone his tendency to use violence towards more peaceful means."

Charlie pictured a green Mantis in long flowing green robes and wooden sandals and a long grey beard like a Zen master of sorts. He couldn't help but laugh at such a possible sight. "So is this Klornaaak guy still alive?"

"No. Such was his dedication to non-violence that when he left the monastery, he did not raise a claw against the ZRPC officers when they shot him for not having the right weapons licensing on his ship" Trikko concluded with a shaking of her head "It was rather embarrassing."

Slocknaw's console lit up as an incoming transmission came in from a Lanius cruiser heading towards the Nesasio. The Slug opened the channel to hear what they had to say.

"This is Captain Rebekah of the Kruos. Good to see you've made it back here in one piece Nesasio! We've been assigned to assist you on your way to the Flagship" said a cheery blue-skinned Human "Be wary though, the FBI says the power readings are phenomenal."

"Thanks for the tip. So what's KazaaakplethKilik doing here?" Slocknaw asked her.

"You haven't heard yet?" Rebekah asked. "Kazaaak's ship came retreating from the Chiron Beta Prime sector, requesting the location of Federation Command. Apparently the Rebels overwhelmed his fleet and he wants to rally them here to help us with the fight."

"And Tully just let that monster in with no questions asked?" Charlie asked scathingly.

"We all are pained by what Kazaaak did to the galaxy. He enslaved me and my family when I was young" Rebekah said before looking at her console "It seems he wants to talk to us. I'll patch him through and we can hear his answers for ourselves."

A brief, haunting theremin started playing, followed by a red banner and a pair of severed, bloodied claws overlaying it. Slocknaw remarked it was similar to the Qulekalez Swarm's banner, except it was blue.

The camera moved downwards to show the back of a large gold-plated throne designed for the Mantis anatomy. "Foolish meatsacks!" a voice chittered before the throne turned around revealing a Human sitting on it wearing a cheap plastic Mantis mask.

The rest of his uniform appeared to be a Federation jumpsuit that had been dyed red. Several Federation service medals were pinned to his chest and a patch on his shoulder bared Kazaaak's emblem. _He looks familiar somehow_, Charlie thought to himself.

"Huh, I was expecting someone taller" Slocknaw remarked in confusion "And greener."

"KazaaakplethKilik is elsewhere with important work" the man said in the chittering tone of a Mantis as lights on a device on his throat started flashing. "I am his representative in lieu of these circumstances, meatsacks."

He looked in the direction of Charlie. "I suppose your subordinate has a question to ask KazaaakplethKilik. I can see it in his eyes – always facing forwards, focusing towards their prey and not looking around for others to hunt."

"I've seen those exact medals before, laid out in that distinct pattern. Where did you get them?" Charlie asked, stepping forward "The Triple Federation Cross, the Purple Core… the three Long Service Medals…"

He glared and continued "I would say you had stolen them off him but they're worn exactly as Captain Joshua Jensen would have worn them. That cannot be a coincidence or an imitation of his style."

The man laughed. "Very astute, meatsack. Or should I say… Ensign Charlie Smith."

He removed his mask revealing an intact face with strong, chiselled features and a lantern jaw. _I can see where those colonial cartoons got their inspiration from_, Slocknaw thought to himself.

"I am KazaaakplethKilik's right-claw man, Captain Joshua Jensen" he declared "I have to say though, I am pleased you escaped the deathtrap that was the Condor."

"Deathtrap?" Charlie exclaimed in shock "Didn't you say you'd rather die than ever become a slave? Sir?"

Joshua's voice still chittered like a Mantis when he spoke again "That was until KazaaakplethKilik showed me this letter he found off one of his victims."

He showed Charlie a partially-burned letter with a few words about how much money would be enclosed for the recipient's family for their service on the Condor. In the corner was the emblem of an eagle with the words "MFK" on it.

He explained how the Rebels funded the Condor to act as bait to eliminate KazaaakplethKilik and himself. "The Rebels would have then taken charge much more easily as my "heroic sacrifice" would be used as their platform."

"But instead it was just written off as another tragedy of piracy and the colony industry suffered even more greatly" Slocknaw concluded "And so the Rebels had to find a new excuse like the Trade Fleet negotiations."

"So I was just a pawn in this crazy game of politics?" Charlie asked "So why did Kazaaak let you join with him instead of killing you?"

Joshua said to Charlie "KazaaakplethKilik works in strange, mysterious ways. He saw my heroic efforts against him as a sign of great strength and decided I was better suited to serve as his liege rather than as his enemy. Since the Rebels put an attempt on my life, I couldn't risk returning home – so here I am working for the Federation's greatest enemy."

Slocknaw asked why Kazaaak was working for the Federation now. Joshua's stated that Kazaaak swore loyalty to the Federation after he was beaten by a particularly strange Mantis who had been raised by Humans.

The experience had given him a new perspective on how Humans could both be vicious warriors and generous at the same time without being uptight like a Zoltan about it. "Still, after this conflict is over, he should join a monastery. The Order needs another poster-boy for other potential Mantis acolytes" Trikko commented.

Once the repairs had been confirmed, the Nesasio undocked from the repair station. The ship bore marks from the previous battles and the wing was still damaged but for the most part, the ship had been patched up. As it headed for the exit beacon node, Slocknaw declared "Time for round 2 with the Flagship!"

The next beacon the Flagship was fighting at had another massive battle between the Federation fleets and the Rebel fleets. However this time, there were a lot of red ships looming in the fray, taking shots at the Rebels.

Occasionally a Rebel cruiser would go silent and start turning its guns against the other Rebels or self-destructed as a Mantis boarding party took it over.

A ship of similar design to the Nesasio suddenly approached them. The hull had been painted in a mix of black and orange camouflage patterns and an oddly-shaped circular drone hovered around it. The IFF tag registered it as "Simo-H."

"Look buddy, I don't like you and you don't like me. We will never be friends here" said a familiar, Zoltan's voice "But my superiors have decided that I must assist you."

Slocknaw chuckled "Well Commander Buck, good to have you on our wing regardless."

"Shut up Slug and don't get in our way! Our ship is more advanced than your pathetic piece of junk!" Buck shouted "The ZRPC and the Engi Brigade just rolled this out last week and they already know it's in good hands since I'm the one they picked for it"

The Slug rolled his eyestalks before ordering Virus to form up as they moved on the Flagship. Rebel ships tried to move into the Nesasio's path only to be blown away by the supporting fleet. _That snooty Rebel's voice is going to haunt me next time I sleep_, the Slug thought to himself after hearing another "I don't care who you are…" being transmitted on all channels.

The Kruos grabbed nearby debris with its recovery arms to quickly shape it into crude projectiles. They were then fired out of the forward cannons, clearing a wide path ahead of them. Surviving ships were taken apart with the Glaive Beam or the mining laser of the Nesasio.

The Simo-H remained close behind, generating a shimmering green shield around itself rather than contributing to the fight. Slocknaw assumed at first it had no weapons until he saw that the cargo bay section of the ship had been refitted with a drone hangar.

The Flagship was soon before them, surrounded by a protective layer of small defence drones. A large chunk of the port side of the vessel had been violently torn off from the damage inflicted in the previous encounter.

"You again!" the Rebel leader broadcast to the Nesasio. "I'm not going to give any speeches this time! So let's just get this on!"

A swarm of drones launched from an open hangar in the starboard side of the ship, heading towards the three vessels while the weapons began charging up and targeting the ships.

Charlie was on edge with the power mitigation of the thrusters of the Nesasio. The combat drones were forcing Virus to take the ship on tight manoeuvres and he needed to make sure each thruster had the power the Engi was asking for and to provide it quickly. Then there was the sound of the hull buckling and breaking nearby, followed by a massive hiss of air and an intruder alarm.

He snapped up his rifle and turned around quickly to find himself staring at the red visor of a Rockman-sized and shaped boarding drone on treads. "Holy crap!"

The drone had a brief period of inactivity before it began shooting so Charlie quickly fired his rifle in short controlled bursts, aiming for the centre of the bulky machine. His shots seemed to do nothing but scorch small holes in the reinforced plating.

"There's a boarding drone in the engine room!" he shouted over the comms, his voice hard to hear over the sound of air escaping. "I need help taking it down Captain!"

"Slocknaw and Translator have already boarded the Flagship" Virus said "Trikko is reinforcing the shields and I can't leave my station to help you or else we'll be sitting ducks!"

The drone then sprang into action, guns spinning up and the visor glowing brightly. "Searching" it said in a deep robotic monotone as its head and body swivelled in different directions until it locked onto Charlie.

"If someone doesn't get their ass down here and defend the engine room, we'll all be sitting ducks! Or dead!" Charlie shouted as several laser blasts fired from the drone's guns, smashing into the equipment.

He took cover and the drone lost sight of him very quickly. He briefly contemplated upping the intensity of his rifle, but as he went for the button, it made a distinct sound to indicate to himself (and his foes) that he was doing just that.

"Are you still there?" the machine intoned, scanning the area again before giving up. "Proceeding to primary objective…"

"Where are the Marines when you need them?" Charlie wailed quietly as the drone suddenly started firing at the nearest console, smashing it to pieces before spinning towards the next one.

Slocknaw and Translator were busy applying heavy firepower to the equipment in the Rebel Flagship. "Missiles are always the biggest threat" Slocknaw said to Translator "They travel at a speed that shield systems have trouble blocking."

"I know that already boss. I'm mostly bothered by the fact that this room is isolated from the rest of the ship." the Lanius said to the Slug, gesturing a heavily armoured set of claws around the Missile Control Room.

The iron-based lifeform had opted to expand his carapace integrity with a suit of specially-designed Lanius power armour. "Designed by the Engi Brigade to take down Level 6 Combat Platforms" he had explained to Virus "The Brigade obviously must have worked quickly to update the Lanius' suits after you took over Metfel's platform. Just in case there's more compromised combat platforms I guess."

Slocknaw shrugged inside the armoured bubble before realising Translator wouldn't be able to see the gesture. "You said earlier that you were bothered by the Engi signatures in here but I'm still not sensing any of the robotic lifeforms."

"That's the thing. They're much stronger this time" Translator said worriedly "Boss, there may be a…"

"Hold that theory, we've been boarded in the engine room" He then shouted as a fire broke out inside the room they were in. He assumed the system was rendered non-functional – the power readings from the missile launchers indicated as much. _Hard to tell with their ship jamming the sensors_, he thought to himself.

Translator shared the same sentiment "Yes, Charlie always seems to get himself into trouble with enemy forces."

The teleporter activated and the two were sent back to the Nesasio. An incoming transmission came from the Kruos. "I'm picking up a massive surge of power coming from the Drone Control Room" Rebekah warned the crew of the Nesasio.

"A power surge? What could that…" Slocknaw started to ask before seeing a massive swarm of drones buzz out of the hangar, heading straight towards them. Combat drones were moving in on the Kruos, Beam Drones on the Simo-H "And an extra special package of boarding drones for us! Crap!"

"That's their best? A swarm of beam drones?" shouted Commander Buck over the comms. "They're no match for my superior…"

His transmission immediately cut out – the Beam Drones had torn through the Simo-H's supershield like it was paper. He barely managed to get a single layer of shields up before the drones took significant chunks out of his ship.

"Come on, we've got to help Charlie before it gets worse" Slocknaw said, rolling towards the engine room at top speed. Translator followed close behind.

The boarding drone immediately opened fire at the newcomers as soon as they entered the Engine Room, laser blasts scorching small holes in their armour. Translator raised a claw which split into three other blades which then launched and sliced through the drone's base before shattering.

The boarding drone started shooting wildly in all directions as the drone's upper section slid off and toppled over before shutting down. A deep monotone said "I don't blame you!" The Lanius raised the empty claw again and a new set of blades were deployed from the mini-fabricators inside the suit.

Charlie took a sigh of relief and ran for the blast doors, sealing them tight behind him and taking several deep breaths. Then the ship shook again as the next wave of boarding drones landed, including an Ion Intruder Drone which nearly sucked him into space through the hole it made in the hull.

The drone then casually rolled over to the blast doors leading into the Shield Room and deployed a cutting torch.

Not taking any more chances and no longer hiding, Charlie increased the power output of his rifle and fired at the drone, melting larger holes than he did with the boarding drone. He didn't stop firing until the rifle's sides opened up and it began ventilating the excess heat.

The Ion Intruder's plating was melted in many places as it turned its body around, revealing its exposed interior structure from the damage. The drone then raised two large panels at its sides while still using the cutting torch on the doors until they were forced open.

There was a short buzzing noise and Charlie was sent to the ground in writhing pain, he felt his blood literally boiling inside, as if they were cooking his insides. He rolled around for relief from the pain until his face landed on his overheated rifle and he stopped moving.

The drone then went through the doors to meet the business end of a large, Zoltan energy-enhanced pipe, followed by several slashes with a similarly-infused sword.

"Charlie!" Trikko shouted, spotting her friend's body lying near a hull breach. She kicked the rifle away and dragged him out of the corridor into the shield room. Once the doors were sealed, the Zoltan grabbed her gun and said "Answer me Charlie, do you need the Clone Bay?"

"Uggh… I'm fine" Charlie groaned, trying to get to his feet and feeling his face "What the hell was that?"

"Active Denial Field. It boils the water in your body and can cook you from the inside" she informed him before giving the drone a good kick "And they thought the energy disruptor was bad enough."

"I've re-tuned the sensors. The power surge has died down but I'm reporting another buildup of energy" Virus said over the comms.

"Then let's stop that from happening again!" Rebekah shouted, powering up the thrusters of the Kruos and charging straight for the Flagship's drone hangar. One of the ship's recovery arms snagged an enemy defense drone and shortly fired it out of the forward flak cannons with the rest of the debris.

The Flagship's shields were slammed with the barrage, followed by a swarm of debris rippling through the hull and then having a blade-like Lanius cruiser cut into the drone hangar.

"She's certainly a crazy sort of Captain" Slocknaw remarked as he looked to Translator. "We might have to rescue her though. I can sense her lifesigns don't look good though – and there's a lot of Rebels moving onto the flagship!"

"Don't worry boss. I've got a special project that'll assist us" Translator said "Launch the PUPPY. For great justice!"

"Special Project?" Slocknaw asked as the scout drone was deployed out of the Nesasio's cargo hold. "I thought I told you to revive those brains and to space them if it didn't work."

"They were too far gone for the Clone Bay" Translator replied, handing Slocknaw a remote control with several large buttons. "So I repurposed them into the PUPPY. It's better this way – all the equipment is there."

"This goes against so many regulations but I guess we can argue this when we're not getting our asses kicked" Slocknaw said with a sigh "Using Rebel technology against the Rebels, especially drone-based mind control."

He then looked at the controls "Although I was expecting something a little stronger considering they've got a Slug brain in the mix. This is a level 1 Mind Bender."

Focusing on one of the Flagship's lifesigns and with the controls, Slocknaw aimed the PUPPY's Mind Controller at it. Seconds later, the Rebel soldier targeted suddenly realised he wasn't fully committed to the cause and opened fire on his comrades before being cut down mercilessly.

Slocknaw and Translator then teleported onboard the ship inside the Drone Hangar. The Slug expected something a little more open only to find that the room was jam-packed with dormant combat drones and debris from the Kruos' guns and the Kruos itself.

Walkways were extended between different parts where Human soldiers and Lanius warriors were exchanging shots. The Lanius were in the same armour Translator was using, so at first the exchange seemed highly one-sided but the Rebels had access to medical facilities – a soldier that had taken a knife directly to the sternum got back up a few seconds later, casually withdrawing the knife from their bodies as the wound healed around it.

"The air's filled with self-repair nanobots" Slocknaw warned Translator, firing his cannons at the Rebel forces. "Don't let them breach your suit. Who knows what they might do to us?"

There was a crackling of the air and one of the Lanius warriors collapsed into a pile of molten metal. A Rebel officer in thin black and orange armour stood high above the battle with a green-glowing sniper rifle with an overly long barrel.

Slocknaw focused his attention on the officer only for him to casually switch his attention over to the Slug and prepare another shot. There was a hissing sound as Translator sliced up the balcony the officer was standing on with a wide barrage of knives.

The Rebel stumbled and fired, the air crackling as the high-energy shot missed Slocknaw by a thin margin. However the officer engaged several thrusters built into his thin armour and hovered in the air with an evil grin.

Slocknaw scowled and fired the Mind Controller again once it had prepared another charge. A nearby Rebel started shooting at their superior and was taken down with several laser shots to the chest. In that moment though, Slocknaw had narrowed down his aim and with several large explosions, the Rebel officer was destroyed.

Soon the Rebels were retreating from the hangar, sealing the blast doors behind them. Several of the dormant drones began powering up, despite their main exit being destroyed and blocked with ship debris.

Virus then said over the comms "Captain… I'm picking up another power surge."

Some of the drones began exploding in their bays as they attempted to take off or deploy. Others were dropped through hatches on the bottom of the Flagship. They were soon on a direct course for the Nesasio.

At the same time, antipersonnel drones were deployed from doors in the hangar walls. "Target acquired" was the unanimous monotone from all of them.

The sound of a jetpack cutting off punctuated the arrival of a familiar, blue-skinned Human as she landed nearby, dressed in armour similar to the Rebel officer except in Federation Blue. She then said "You may want to beam us out of here now. The Kruos may or may not explode in the next few seconds."

The Flagship was rocked with large explosions on the starboard side wing. The drone swarm it launched powered down and overshot their marks. There was a massive explosion that consumed the starboard side wing of the Flagship and forced it to break apart from the side.

The crippled Flagship somehow managed to jump away from the battle yet again. Slocknaw checked the situation report of the Federation fleets. Federation assets were falling back to Command as the Rebels were overwhelming more and more systems.

The Nesasio spun up its FTL drive and jumped straight for Federation Command in preparation for the final showdown.


End file.
